1968-12-23-letter-to-newsweek
Newsweek, 23 December 1968, 7 (letter dated 4 December 1968); transcribed from the editor's source.
142 Columbia Heights Brooklyn, New York 11201
December 4, 1968
Letters to the Editor Newsweek 444 Madison Avenue New York, New York 10022
Gentlemen:
I thought Ray Sokolov’s cover story on me was well written, generous, well intentioned. For that reason perhaps a few small errors caused me disproportionate pain. May I itemize them?
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No publisher ever forced me to censor The Naked and the Dead. I decided to use the word fug before the book was even begun. In those days the big brother of fug was simply not ready for public hire.
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I can’t remember saying ”… I believed in orgies.” Doubtless I remarked that “I believed that orgies were etc. etc. etc,” and proceeded to rattle on about their existential complexities.
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Jose Torres is not my bodyguard. He’s the former light-heavyweight champion and a most serious man, and at the moment engaged in trying to win back his light-heavyweight championship. He does not have to go around socking people for me. He never laid a hand on Lane Smith. In fact, striking an actor would be as alien for Jose Torres as upbraiding a ten-year-old schoolchild for poor penmanship might be uncharacteristic of me.
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Sokolov speaks of my soft left hook. Since I never hit Raymond, I wonder how he found out. I’ve been trying to hide this from everyone.
Yours most cheerfully,
Norman Mailer
P.S. My wife, Beverly, joins with me in announcing that my four daughters are named Susan, Dandy, Betsy, and Kate.