97.15

“Mailer Agrees His ‘Gospel’ Is an Audacious Book.” Article-interview by Nicholas A. Basbanes. (Quincy, Mass.) Patriot Ledger, 10 May. In this relatively brief piece Mailer tells Basbanes that his greatest risk in writing 97.13 was the prospect of “ridicule and dismissal as a person playing the fool, exactly the sort of risk that all writers face whenever they want to do something particularly ambitious.” Sometimes truncated, this piece also appeared in the following newspapers: (Worcester, Mass.) Sunday Telegram (11 May); Knoxville News-Sentinel (18 May); Grand Rapids Press (18 May); (Toledo) Blade (18 May); (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger (25 May); (Allentown, Pa.) Morning Call (25 May); (Madison) Wisconsin State Journal (1 June); Salt Lake Tribune (8 June).