Recently Dead

One of America's great writers, Norman Mailer, died early this morning of renal failure at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was 84. The two-time Pulitzer prize-winner was a provocative and prolific author who remained actively relevant in American literature longer than any writer of his generation, from his debut novel, The Naked and the Dead, to his last, The Castle in the Forest, about Hitler's childhood, which he predicted would cause people "to have a shit fit." All the while, he was a kind of macho one-man entertainment complex: He produced, directed, and acted in movies; dabbled in journalism; was obsessed with Marilyn Monroe; flew gliders; challenged professional boxers; knocked out Gore Vidal; and stabbed one of his six wives. His current wife, Norris Church Mailer, survived him, as did nine children, 10 grandchildren, and a sister. (AP; photos: Mailer in 1962, and on Time cover in 1973)

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