79.8

“Novelist Shelved.” Boston, September, 91. Comic auto-obituary. Accompanied by four other auto-obituaries by Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Elaine Noble, Alfred Fiandaca and Darrell Martine described collectively in a headnote as “five of Boston’s favorite people.” The five short pieces are pendants to Joel Rosen’s article about obituary writers, “The Bad News Bearers,” 91–93, 130. Mailer says of himself, “He was renowned in publishing circles for his blend of fictional journalism and factual fiction.” He also notes that he had been married 16 times and had twenty-four children and seven grandchildren, “of whom four are older than six of their uncles and aunts.” When asked why he married so often, he replied, “To get divorced. You don’t know anything about a woman until you meet her in court.” This issue of Boston also contains a profile of Mailer’s lawyer for his divorce from Beverly Bentley, Monroe Inker, who comments on the case on 116. See 78.4, 78.5, 79.2, 79.3, 79.5, 80.13.