76.18

“Mailer Takes on the Heavyweight Novel.” Article-interview by Herbert Mitgang. New York Times, 10 December, Sec. C, p. 24. Mailer discusses his novel-in-progress, Ancient Evenings (83.18), with additional comment on Henry Miller and Saul Bellow, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature the same day: “To my surprise, I felt good about Saul getting it, because he deserved it. I sent him a telegram of congratulations.” Rpt. Mitgang’s Words Still Count with Me: A Chronicle of Literary Conversations. New York: Norton, 1995.