83.39

“Norman’s Conquests.” Article-interview by Julia Braun Kessler. (Van Nuys, Cal.) Daily News Magazine, 29 May, 25–27. Significant interview for three reasons:

1. “Mailer’s Law of Architectural Sequence on the American Campus”: “the newer the building, the less attractive”;
2. “I have supposed that if there were one great Egyptian novelist, this is his novel. I was even tempted at one point to call it ‘The Egyptian Novel’ ”;
3. on karma: “When you think of the incredible elaborations that go into any one human being, it does seem wasteful of the cosmos to send us out just once to learn all those things, and then to molder forever in the weeds.”