From Norman Mailer...
I found these wise words in the New York Times obituary for Normal Mailer who died November 10, 2007. I believe they are from an interview in 2001 in which he also declared that he thought the novel as a form was "on the way out."
"It’s such an odd notion, particularly in this technological society, of whether your life is justified by being a novelist. And the nice thing about getting older is that I no longer worry about that. I’ve come to the simple recognition that would have saved me much woe 30 or 40 or 50 years ago — that one’s eventual reputation has very little to do with one’s talent. History determines it, not the order of your words."
Sobering for those of us typing away during this National Novel Writing Month. And for the hordes who are down at the Wordstock literary festival for a book fair and other lit-celeb events this weekend...
