97.23d

“‘He smiled, so I punched him.’” Article-interview by Mick Brown. Daily Telegraph (London), 25 September, 26. Mailer, speaking in a London hotel room while promoting 97.13, gives his longest description of punching Martin Peretz on a Provincetown street after Peretz’s New Republic gave 97.13 “a particularly ugly and personal review.” He adds that his wife, Norris Church, “was appalled.” He describes himself as “a fellow of less than medium size and slightly more than medium weight, but with a huge dragon’s tail”—the legends surrounding his reputation. Speaking of the Catholic Church, which he called “a compassionate church,” he recalled that Pope John Paul II said that if necessary, the Vatican would have “to sell its treasures to help the poor.” “Well,” he said with a laugh, “I’m waiting.” This, one Mailer’s best spontaneous interviews of his later years, also includes comment on The Last Party (97.11), a memoir by his second wife, Adele Morales.