Paret lay on the ground, quivering gently, a small froth on his mouth.
The house doctor jumped into the ring. He knelt. He pried Paret's eyelid
open. He looked at the eyeball staring out. He let the lid snap shut. He
reached into his satchel, took out a needle, jabbed Paret with a
stimulant. Paret's back rose in a high arch. He writhed in real agony.
They were calling him back from death. One wanted to cry out, "Leave the
man alone. Let him die."
In 1962, Norman Mailer traveled to Chicago to witness the highly
anticipated boxing match between heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson
and the fearsome Sonny Liston. Along the way, Mailer - arguably the most
iconic American writer of the twentieth century - discourses on the
nature of, among other things, journalism, prizefighting, good and evil,
and life and death. At once terrifying and beautiful, Ten Thousand
Words a Minute shows a one-of-a-kind talent at his all-time best. Ten
Thousand Words a Minute was originally published in Esquire, February
1963.
