Mailer always was more self-promoter than artist. As a result, his life will be remembered fondly by Dick Cavett, but not by literary history. He was very much a creature of the Sixties, for good and ill. These days, it looks mostly ill, and his “journalism” looks very dated. Is there a single novel for which he will really be remembered as an artist? Or is there nothing beyond his boxing and screwing to talk about?