68.8a

“Mailer at Ease.” Article-interview by Dick Schapp. New York, 6 May, 54. On the occasion of the party thrown by Harper’s to celebrate the publication of The Armies of the Night (68.8), Mailer tells Schapp that he had no intention to write about the March on the Pentagon, that he just stumbled into the event: “Afterwards, coming home from the march, I just had a sort of feeling that I should write about it.” He also says that he used his memory to recall various speeches, including that of the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr. “Then,” he said, “I found out that Coffin had prepared a speech. I inserted his actual speech—my version had been fairly close—which was somewhat better, as a speech; my version suited the story better. I used the actual speech, with some reluctance.”