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Norman Mailer honored at Carnegie Hall

By Marlene Naanes, amNewYork Staff Writer
More stories | MNaanes@am-ny.com

April 10, 2008

Jimmy Breslin, left, then a candidate for New York City Council President, and Norman Mailer, June 10,1969 (Associated Press / June 10, 1969)

Nearly everyone who spoke at Norman Mailer's memorial Wednesday channeled the larger-than-life writer's thoughts and words in their tributes.

Mailer's son, Stephen, briefly even impersonated his father to guffaws from the packed crowd at Carnegie Hall. "Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Hall, why the ... not?" said Stephen Mailer, affecting his father's voice. "I think it's the perfect place for a memorial."

The who's who of New York City's literary and journalism elite turned up alongside Norman Mailer's wife and nine children to honor the Pulitzer Prize-winning author who penned more than 40 books on a swath of subjects from Hitler to Marilyn Monroe. The memorial, held five months after his death at 84, had many touching moments that elicited sighs from the audience. But for the most part, many remembered Mailer with humor.

His family recounted how Mailer, connected to breathing tubes and dying in a hospital, took swigs of rum and orange juice they brought him. Throughout his life, they said, Mailer told them to question authority and passed on his love of boxing and words.

His friends who spoke extolled Mailer's contribution to making the world better through his writing.

"He was the writer in opposition," said Don DeLillo, novelist and playwright. "He was the individual who confronted power and grabbed a handful for himself." Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown called Mailer a novelist, pugilist, a man of action, "beater of words" and "maker of worlds." She remembered, "his refusal to let anyone define him but himself."

His friends said Mailer's passion for writing even followed him to the end when he brought books on Hitler to the hospital for research on a second book about the man. They also recalled how Mailer changed their lives and the lives of his millions of readers with his work and thoughts.