Author Norman Mailer: 1923-2007

Norman Mailer, author, journalist, iconoclast and brawler, died Saturday of renal failure at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was 84.

Following the 1948 publication of his breakthrough World War II novel, The Naked and the Dead, Mailer lived as a literary celebrity - and certainly made the most of it. From stabbing his second of six wives, to butting heads (literally) with fellow novelist Gore Vidal, to a failed run for New York mayor, Mailer never stayed far out of the spotlight. Emulating his idol Earnest Hemingway, Mailer tried to fashion himself as a self-made tough guy - although he stood only 5'8".

His fiction novels consistently drew a mixed critical reception, but his nonfiction work has been celebrated as forming the foundation for the "new journalism" movement. He won two Pulitzer Prizes for his nonfiction work (Armies of the Night and The Executioner's Song), and authored a series of influential essays opposing the Vietnam War. Mailer never failed to court controversy in his work, especially with feminists for his views on gender. He made so many enemies over his career that New York Magazine had to compile a list earlier this year.

Certainly, the literary world just got a lot less colorful.

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