RIP Gore Vidal
- Thread starter 3113
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dr_mabeuse
seduce the mind
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Saw this in the news this morning.
Vidal was unashamedly gay back when being gay was social suicide, and he even had a one-night stand with Jack Kerouac back in the 50's. He grew up in the center of the Washington elite, but his homosexuality gave him an outsider's objectivity toward American politics and culture which he lambasted brilliantly in his novels. His views and his imperious nature led him to leave the US for Italy, from where he continued to skewer American sacred cows.
He was an amazing historian too, and his novels about Lincoln and Aaron Burr are still revered today. He was one of those guys who was so brilliant it was kind of scary. A holdover from the days when 'American intellectual' wasn't an oxymoron.
Vidal was unashamedly gay back when being gay was social suicide, and he even had a one-night stand with Jack Kerouac back in the 50's. He grew up in the center of the Washington elite, but his homosexuality gave him an outsider's objectivity toward American politics and culture which he lambasted brilliantly in his novels. His views and his imperious nature led him to leave the US for Italy, from where he continued to skewer American sacred cows.
He was an amazing historian too, and his novels about Lincoln and Aaron Burr are still revered today. He was one of those guys who was so brilliant it was kind of scary. A holdover from the days when 'American intellectual' wasn't an oxymoron.
SEVERUSMAX
Benevolent Master
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He is missed indeed. His Julian was one of the most pivotal novels I have ever read, in terms of influencing my world-view, because while it is fiction, it has a great deal of truth to it.
3113
Hello Summer!
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That was great! A wonderful eulogy that sums Vidal up perfectly, who he was and why he was who he was--as well as his relevancy to us here on AH. Thanks Doc!
