I have not read any of Mr. Mailer’s works and did not feel a need to before or after his death. I will say this though, that this column is only of interest in response to the generous outpouring of eulogies that are forthcoming.

To me, this column only resounded with the criticism of a movement that history has passed by. The real anger here is not with Mailer but with the habit of mind the Mr. Kimbell believes he engenders.

And so what if he does? Mr. Mailer did not create the world that he wrote for though he might have encouraged and reveled in its existence. Where did this column get us? Any farther than we were before Mr. Mailer’s death? Were we informed of anything of interest or should be of interest? Did Mr. Kimball provide us with the tools to understand the world after Norman Mailer? To understand the world before? Are such tools needed or is it much vitriol about nothing?

Mr. Kimball has not convinced me (as someone who did not live through Mailer’s heyday) that Mailer was worth the effort he has expended .

This piece was written before Mr. Mailer’s death and it seems to me perfectly fair to have presented it in conjunction with the many obits/eulogies that have been waiting in the wings.