Time and Salon critics recall brilliant, failed, iconic Mailer
(NEWSER) - Egotist, chauvinist, brawler, Mailer battled "a culture subsiding into room temperature," Time says. His work vented "his own inner conditions" as he lurched from fame at age 25 to so-so books to his "brilliant" Armies of the Night in 1968. He made big gaffes—blaming patients for their cancer, directing bad films, helping parole a murderer—but "something important was lost" when he died today. “Norman come back," says Time. "Nothing is forgiven.” More»
