Two-time Pulitzer winner, author of The Executioner’s Song dead at 84

Vonnegut died earlier this year, and now we say goodbye to Norman Mailer.

It was a shock to see him hobbling on two canes during interviews related to his last novel, The Castle in the Forest. But he was still a crank with a pessimistic, misanthropic outlook, so we all hoped that it really was just a problem with his knees, as opposed to old age and infirmity. But there was no denying that the violent, self-aggrandizing, wife-stabbing alcoholic had become a guy that interviewers liked to describe as spry. [shudder]

Gore Vidal is still with us, and we should all count our blessings.

Tags: , Executioner's Song, gore vidal, kurt vonnegut, norman mailer, obituary, pulitzer, Rachel Powers