In a culture noted for paying little attention to our serious writers unless they get embroiled in a tabloid-worthy scandal, it moved me to see two events take place in New York celebrating and memorializing two of America's greatest contemporary authors, Philip Roth and Norman Mailer. A 75th birthday party was held for Roth at Columbia University, and a memorial service at Carnegie Hall for Mailer to commemorate his death last year at 84. Here are two of our best known and most honored writers who have garnered innumerable literary awards including Pulitzer Prizes, but whose prose, point of view, and presentation of self are vastly different.

I don't normally go to events of this nature, usually feeling that I would be like a voyeur if I attended a gala for a famous person I have no personal connection to. But having been exhilarated over the years by Roth's large and varied body of often-dazzling work (28 books), I felt an overwhelming need to attend the birthday party. My wife (who wrote a section of her Ph.D. on Roth) and I got in line for the event at Columbia's Miller Theater 45 minutes early. There were already about 200 people ahead of us - students,

professors, writers, editors, and just people who love the written word. Most were middle aged or older, hopefully not a sign of the often-rumored death of serious literature among the younger generation.

While waiting for the doors to open, we eavesdropped on the conversation between two men directly behind us on line. One was a talkative, well-heeled, camel-hair coat-wearing friend of Roth's from high school, the other a low-keyed, delicate-looking novelist who taught creative writing at Columbia; two strikingly different people, but both sharing a friendship with Roth, both speaking of him with affection and great respect. What their talk made clear was that for Roth, a very private man, his willingness to take part in such a public celebration was something out of the ordinary....continued