Last night, legendary 81-year-old novelist Norman Mailer spoke in Madison County, Illinois, at an event hosted by the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Andrea and I were guests of one of the university deans, a friend-of-a-friend sort of thing, and we were lucky enough to sit in the first row and attend the reception afterwards. (For background about Mailer, see here
It was an easy crowd. When Mailer entered the auditorium in a double-breasted blue blazer, walking on two canes to support his bum knees, the audience stood and applauded. Last week, he’d told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he was going to let the audience choose the topic of his talk: writing or Iraq. By the time the event started, however, he’d changed his mind. “At this moment,” he said, “I’m more interested in Iraq than the craft of writing.” So he didn’t put it to a vote as planned.