The Last Word

Obituaries sometimes end with a zinger, inserted by the writer to throw a splash of irony at the deceased. They also sometimes end with a quote from the deceased that is meant to sum up their life, their philosophy, or just plain memorialize something memorable they uttered. The application for Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.

Published obituaries are not written by the deceased. But sometimes the living express themselves as if they were already in the past tense.

Norman Mailer's widow, his sixth wife, Norris Church Mailer has just had her memoirs published, A Ticket to the Circus. The book review in today's NYT by Dwight Garner recounts some of the events described in the book. The book is well titled.

The reviewer closes the review with the observation that Ms. Mailer has survived her own health problems, and writes, toward the end of her memoir, "If I go tomorrow, I will still be ahead."

Anyone married to Norman Mailer for 27 years who managed to outlive him--even if she was much younger they he was when they were married--has certainly earned whatever renewals they've been granted. They should probably get a few more.

http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com/