03.7

The Spooky Art: Some Thoughts on Writing. New York: Random House, 31 January. Essays and interviews. 330 pp. $24.95.

Dedication: "To J. Michael Lennon".

Contains excerpts from approximately 190 previously published items by Mailer, plus 50 new items written expressly for this book. The great majority of the questions from interviewers were incorporated by Mailer into his replies.

Mailer:

“ It is interesting that my ceremonial sense intensifies as I grow older, and so I have looked to assemble this book in time for it to come out on January 31, 2003. I will be exactly eighty years old on that occasion. I would hope I am not looking for unwarranted easy treatment by this last remark. Can I possibly be speaking the truth? ”

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