Question

In a letter apologizing to another author for an unflattering People interview, this author coined the term “Good Intentions Paving Company.” A biography of this author by Zachary Leader analyzes his dying words, “Was I a man or was I a jerk?” This author’s friendship with Christopher Hitchens and descent into dementia (-5[1])is fictionalized in Inside Story by Martin Amis, who considered this author his writing mentor. This author wrote of remembering Thomas Mofolo’s (*) Chaka (10[1])immediately after giving a telephone interview in which he infamously asked, (10[2])“Who is the Tolstoy (10[2]-5[1])of the Zulus?” (10[4])One of this author’s title characters, who holes up in the Hotel Crillon while dying of AIDS, is a fictionalization (-5[1])of a friend for whom this author wrote a preface to The Closing of the American Mind. For 10 points, (10[1])name this author who fictionalized Allan Bloom in his final novel, Ravelstein. ■END■ (10[2])

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