82.16

Pieces and Pontifications (Pontifications edited with introduction by Michael Lennon). Boston: Little, Brown, 21 June; simultaneously as two softcovers, Pieces and Pontifications; Sevenoaks, Kent: New English Library, July 1983. Essays (208 pp.) and Interviews (192 pp.), respectively, $20

Dedication: “For my sister, Barbara.” Discarded titles: “After ‘The White Negro’”; “Sinking in the Seventies.” Most of the interviews in Pieces were trimmed by Mailer. Rpt: A number of the essays and interviews are reprinted in The Time of Our Time (98.7). See 76.15.

“ Here, then, are two sides of myself as I survived the Seventies—my literary ghost looking for that little refinement of one’s art which becomes essential as one grows older, and the cry of the street debater, front and center, who always speaks in the loudest voice. ” — Mailer, 82.16

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Reviews

• Brownmiller, Susan (June 13, 1982). "Mailer Blows Hot and Cold with His Pontifications". Chicago Tribune. pp. 1, 6. Mixed.
• Fallowell, Duncan (August 13, 1983). "Pen against Mouth". The Spectator. pp. 25–226. Negative.
• Feeney, Mark (June 25, 1982). "Not Mailer's Best, but Brilliant Anyway". Boston Globe. p. 84. Positive.
• Herman, Jan (July 4, 1982). "Mailer Still Has Speed in the Sprints". Chicago Sun Times. p. 26. Positive.
• Kakutani, Michiko (June 6, 1982). "Mailer Talking". New York Times. p. 3, 38–41. Positive. Rpt: Kakutani, Michiko (1988). The Poet at the Piano: Portraits of Writers, Filmmakers, Playwrights and Other Artists at Work. New York: Times Books. Lennon (1988).
• Kanfer, Stefan (June 28, 1982). "Adrenaline and Flapdoodle". Time. p. 73. Negative.
• Kendall, Elaine (July 11, 1982). "A Jumble of His Literary Licenses". Los Angeles Times. pp. 1, 6. Mixed.
• Leonard, John (June 3, 1982). "[Review of PAP]". New York Times. Books of the Times. p. 25. Positive.
• Tavernier-Courbin, Jacqueline (1984). "Review of Pontifications". Modern Fiction Studies. 34 (winter): 810–813. Positive.