Norman Mailer

Ralph Ginzburg claimed to be a close friend of Norman Mailer's, and sent him a note asking him to write an article about the time he stabbed his wife--an article for Fact Magazine, where I worked.

"Too direct," I said, shocked. He won't do it.


Some time later, I asked Ralph whether Mailer had responded. No, he said, puzzled. So he wrote to Mailer again, inquiring why his previous note hadn't been answered.

Mailer wrote back: "Some letters just don't get answered."