67.19

“Following the Bouncing Talk of Norman Mailer.” Article-interview by Phyllis Meras. Providence Journal, 8 October, Sec. W, p. 20. Report of a conversation in a New York bar with Mailer and Edward White of G.P. Putnam’s, publishers of Why Are We in Vietnam? (67.15). Mailer says 67.15 “has its roots in Cannibals and Christians” (66.11), and goes on to link the total warfare practiced by Ulysses S. Grant with modern science’s “gross methods of experimentation.” He continues, noting that he abandoned a formal style in 67.15 for one that has been described as “Joyce gone hip,” a “pure American” style.