Re: Everyone who says we should lay off Mailer because he just died, a far greater writer than Mailer said:

“He that writes may be considered as a kind of general challenger, whom every one has a right to attack; since he quits the common rank of life, steps forward beyond the lists, and offers his merit to the public judgement. To commence author is to claim praise, and no man can justly aspire to honour, but at the hazard of disgrace.”
(Samuel Johnson, The Rambler #1751)