Norman Mailer (pictured), the macho prince of American letters who for decades reigned as the country's literary conscience and provocateur, died Nov. 10, his literary executor said. He was 84.

Mailer died in New York, said J. Michael Lennon, who is also the author's official biographer.

From his debut novel, The Naked and the Dead, to such masterworks of literary journalism as The Armies of the Night, the Pulitzer-Prize winner always got credit for insight, passion and originality.

Some of Mailer's works were highly praised, some panned, but none was pronounced the "Great American Novel" that seemed to be his life's quest from the time he soared to the top as a brash 25-year-old "enfant terrible."