Mailer savages 'kamikaze' critic who panned his books

[emad]

By Harry Mount in New York
(Filed: 30/06/2005)

Norman Mailer has demonstrated that neither age nor his status as one of the grand old men of American letters has withered his loathing of a bad review by savaging the most powerful book critic in America.

The 82-year-old author has torn into Michiko Kakutani, chief critic of the New York Times, for a series of unfavourable reviews of his books, and taken to writing to tabloid gossip columns to defend his attacks.

Mailer said: "She is a one-woman kamikaze. She disdains white male writers, and I am her number one favourite target. She trashes it just to hurt sales and embarrass the author. But the Times editors can't fire her. They're terrified of her.

"With discrimination rules and such, well, she's a threefer: Asiatic, feminist and, ah, what's the third? Well. Let's just call her a twofer."

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