Scatter Brained

GORE VIDAL VERSUS NORMAN MAILER
The Rivals:
 Gore Vidal, best known for historical fi ction (
Lin-
coln: A Novel,
 1984), and Norman Mailer, best known for the 
World War II novel 
Th
  e Naked and the Dead
 (1948)
How It Started:
 Mailer and Vidal hated each other through-
out the 1950s. But the feud fi rst came to a boil in 1971 on 
Th
 e 
Dick Cavett Show.

---

235
Highlights:
 Before the taping started, Mailer head-butted Vi-
dal, who responded with a punch to Mailer’s (ample) gut. Th
 at 
may not seem like much of a fi ght, but we’re talking about fa-
mous 
novelists
 here, not guests of 
Jerry Springer.
The Conclusion:
 Mailer is probably the more respected nov-
elist these days. Perennially said to be on the short list for the 
Nobel Prize, Mailer may never win because of his rampant 
sexism. “I’m not a misogynist,” he once said, not entirely jok-
ingly. “I just believe all women should be kept in cages.”