The Mailer Review/Volume 2, 2008/The Time of His Time: A Celebration of the Life of Norman Mailer/A Late Lunch: Difference between revisions
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{{byline|last=Kennedy|first=William}} | {{byline|last=Kennedy|first=William}} | ||
I want to salute my dear friend Norris Church Mailer and express my gratitude to her for asking me to speak today. | I want to salute my dear friend [[Norris Church Mailer]] and express my gratitude to her for asking me to speak today. | ||
I met Norman in late 1968 in New York when I was a movie critic and he was editing his film, ''Maidstone''. I wanted an interview but he said no. I don’t hold grudges for more than five years, so after a while we got to be friends. I valued him enormously, but our friendship developed in a peculiar way. Let’s face it, Norman was peculiar. He had been trying to change my consciousness since before I could read, and then I grew up and found out he was trying to change ''everybody''’s consciousness. Did he? Who else was as rewarding and brilliant and exasperating for the past sixty years? | [[File:Ellipsis.png|center|50px]] | ||
I met [[Norman Mailer|Norman]] in late 1968 in New York when I was a movie critic and he was editing his film, ''Maidstone''. I wanted an interview but he said no. I don’t hold grudges for more than five years, so after a while we got to be friends. I valued him enormously, but our friendship developed in a peculiar way. Let’s face it, Norman was peculiar. He had been trying to change my consciousness since before I could read, and then I grew up and found out he was trying to change ''everybody''’s consciousness. Did he? Who else was as rewarding and brilliant and exasperating for the past sixty years? | |||
In recent speeches Norman warmed up all his audiences with one particular joke. He forgot where he heard it until [[Mike Lennon]] said I had told him. You’ve probably heard it — maybe from Norman — but I’ll tell it anyway in homage to his low threshold for sexual irony. | In recent speeches Norman warmed up all his audiences with one particular joke. He forgot where he heard it until [[Mike Lennon]] said I had told him. You’ve probably heard it — maybe from Norman — but I’ll tell it anyway in homage to his low threshold for sexual irony. |