Writer lived life to the fullest

　　LOVED and hated, but never boring. That is what people say of American writer Norman Mailer, who died late last year at the age of 84. He was the author of some of the greatest books of the 20th century.

　　But Mailer will be remembered as much for his personality as for his writing. He was arrogant (傲慢的), rude and bad-tempered. He violently attacked other authors and even stabbed (刺傷) one of his six wives.

　　However, this never stopped Mailer from being successful. People always wanted to read his books. His provocative (煽動性的) writing style and willingness to tackle (處理) difficult subjects made his books bestsellers.

　　"He was willing to take risks with just about everything," says the author Gore Vidal. "He had a radical (激進的) imagination, a way of approaching subjects that was never boring."

　　In a career that lasted six decades, Mailer wrote about a wide variety of subjects from history and politics to sport and celebrities. But he was most famous for writing novels and he twice won the Pulitzer Prize.

　　His best book was The Naked and the Dead, a story about the tensions between American soldiers fighting Japan in World War II. Drawn on his own experiences as a soldier, it is a study of men at war examining their brutality (殘忍) and bravery.

　　Mailer's brilliance as an author was his ability to capture human behavior. He did so through interesting characters, realistic dialogue and rich descriptions. The author William F. Buckley said, "He created the most beautiful metaphors (比喻) in the English."

　　Mailer leaves behind more than 40 books as his literary legacy (遺產). However, he never achieved his life's goal. He wanted to write what he called the "big one" ? the greatest novel ever written about America. Well, at least it wasn't for a lack of trying.