Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Norman Mailer, (What) Are You Thinking?

You may have heard about Norman Mailer's racist remarks about Pulitzer Prize winning book critic Michiko Kaktuni. She wrote against his latest novel, and his true colors came out. The latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine (could there be any more freakin ads in a single magazine?) features an interview with author Norman Mailer, who calls New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani a "kamikaze" who "disdains white male authors." He claims her editors can't fire her: "With discrimination rules and such, well, she's a threefer: Asiatic, feminist and, ah, what's the third? Well, let's just call her a twofer. They get two for one. She is a token."

Tell a friend
.

Hyphen Magazine's post about it is here.

Read the letter from Esther Wu of the AAJA here.

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What I was listening to as I typed this blog entry: "The Vibes," from the Beastie Boys' Sure Shot EP.

2 comments:

Bryan Thao Worra said...

Personally, I think it's more criminal to write a cinderblock-sized novel like Harlot's Ghost that ends with the words "To Be Continued..." You could kill small children with that thing.

Seriously though, I hope this shows that the "American Enlightenment" hasn't really hit all strata of our society, and we still have a long way to go to attain legitimacy and respect for everyone without people thinking its tokenism or affirmative action.

Personally, I don't bother with Mailer much as it is, and I suppose, vice-versa. And it may be just as well.

Lee Herrick said...

Ha! Very true, Bryan, very true.

Lee