The reports about his hospitalization had been drifting in for weeks, but even though it’s not a surprise, Norman Mailer’s death is still depressing. RIP: 1923 – 2007. One of his lesser known books – The Fight – nonetheless has a special place in my heart. Mailer chronicles the lead-up and fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, even training with Ali (he takes a jog with him one night), then brilliantly compares Ali’s sacrificing of the boxing center as being analogous to the revolution in chess, when it was realized that occupying the center doesn’t necessarily confer a tactical advantage. And oh boy, the description of the boxing itself got my blood boiling – The Fight had all the sports emotion of a Rocky film, combined with sensible literary taste (and it’s also nonfiction).
Some links to commemorate Mailer’s legacy:
The Norman Mailer Society
LA Times article
John Freeman at Critical Mass, which includes a number of links
Louis Menand in The New Yorker
Video of Norman Mailer interviewed by Charlie Rose
“Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.” – Norman Mailer
