Vidal's pose was not to show affection so not likely we woulda gotten a Slate essay on Paul Wolfowitz's beautiful literate wife or a defense of Doug Feith's prose.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 18:07 (twelve years ago) link
Vidal's pose was not to show affection
really his most distasteful quality imho. he seems to share with Burroughs a rather unhealthy loathing for affection and sexual intimacy, which just seems sad to me.
― giallo pudding pops (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 18:10 (twelve years ago) link
but the thing is, it could be a pose, which I embrace
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 18:13 (twelve years ago) link
also, he claimed a couple thousand 'lovers' by age 25, so selective loathing.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 18:14 (twelve years ago) link
there seemed to be plenty of affection in vidal's apparently chaste relationship with his partner, if not the kind he wanted to share in public.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 18:19 (twelve years ago) link
he seems to share with Burroughs a rather unhealthy loathing for affection and sexual intimacy
no evidence of this! The mark of a man is how many friends he's got, and Vidal had hundreds.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 18:21 (twelve years ago) link
the chapter on Howard Austen's death in his memoir is shattering. You know how much pain Vidal was in from how much emotion he suppresses.
well I haven't looked in his little black book, I'm just going by his little witticisms (haven't read his memoirs)
― giallo pudding pops (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 18:22 (twelve years ago) link
i bet you've misinterpreted him as often as you have me, then!
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 18:27 (twelve years ago) link
Paris Review Q&A:
http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3917/the-art-of-fiction-no-50-gore-vidal
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 18:41 (twelve years ago) link
best vidal urban legend:
He and brute Norman Mailer were at a party when Mailer laid him out with one punch. From the floor, Vidal looked up at him, and (the precise quotation varies) intoned like a total catty bitch, “Words fail Norman Mailer once again.”
― ♆ (gr8080), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 19:12 (twelve years ago) link
Taking a dead man to task for not having more gay sex?
You people.
― Eric H., Wednesday, 1 August 2012 19:15 (twelve years ago) link
um that was not my point
― giallo pudding pops (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 19:22 (twelve years ago) link
Taking a dead gay man to task for not having more straight sex?
― Eric H., Wednesday, 1 August 2012 19:22 (twelve years ago) link
His greatest book might be Palimpsest though
I've had it sitting on my bookshelf for a couple of years. I guess I should finally get around to reading it.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 1 August 2012 21:25 (twelve years ago) link
Lincoln praise seconded, thirded, etc.
RIP
― aerosmith suck because their corporate rock that sucks (Myonga Vön Bontee), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 22:11 (twelve years ago) link
Haven't read this yet, but it looks promising.
http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/105655/christopher-buckley-his-fathers-old-nemesis-gore-vidal
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 00:46 (twelve years ago) link
one was left to wonder what it was within him that animated such hatred in him, at such a late stage? I speculated that it might be envy over the outpouring of respect and admiration for WFB—from all corners, by the way, of the ideological map.
or maybe it was WFB's eloquent suggestion that people with AIDS be branded and quarantined?
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:06 (twelve years ago) link
It seems so weird to me that someone would refer to his father with initials.
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:14 (twelve years ago) link
Bill Buckley seems like the kind of guy who would refer to himself with initials. when he wasn't using the royal "we"
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:19 (twelve years ago) link
skimmed through some of that norman podhoretz attack on him from the early '80s, the one that apparently convinced conservatives that vidal was an 'anti-semite.' it's pretty rife with ugly, homophobic stuff.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:22 (twelve years ago) link
theres a horrible NRO thing from whats his face that speculates that vidal wanted to fuck wfb
― max, Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:24 (twelve years ago) link
By Jonah Goldberg
I’m getting a lot of dyspeptic feedback from folks who’re mad that NRO isn’t doing more to mark the death of Gore Vidal (though we do have an excellent little item from Rick Brookhiser). I’m torn about the matter. I’ve been trying to stick to the policy of not speaking too ill, too soon, of the dead. It’s a policy I haven’t always stuck to, but I think it’s worth trying. True fidelity to that principle would require complete silence after typing the phrase “Gore Vidal is dead.” I think though it’s at least worth recalling that Vidal himself showed no respect to such a principle when his better in every regard, William F. Buckley, passed away. Also, I rather like the idea that Vidal’s passing is not being hailed as all that big a deal, because it isn’t.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:26 (twelve years ago) link
Remembering that Buckley's book about his parents was called Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir, between WFB and Pup, WFB suddenly doesn't seem so bad.
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:27 (twelve years ago) link
Also, I rather like the idea that Vidal’s passing is not being hailed as all that big a deal, because it isn’t.
Silly--it was the lead story on CNN's main page for much of the day.
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:28 (twelve years ago) link
brookhiser:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/312887/my-visit-gore-vidal-richard-brookhiser
About WFB and Vidal and 1968 — I did not see the famous clash on ABC, though there are clips on YouTube and I read the apologia that WFB wrote for Esquire. God, they hated each other. My speculation is that Bill was enraged because he sensed that Vidal wanted to sleep with him, and Vidal was enraged because he knew that would never happen.
― max, Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:28 (twelve years ago) link
gross. those fucking assholes.
― horseshoe, Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:29 (twelve years ago) link
at least Brookhiser ate some of Vidal's cheese.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:29 (twelve years ago) link
in that book Pup comes across better than Mum because she was, in her son's estimation, a heartless snob and difficult i.e. a total bitch
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:30 (twelve years ago) link
i don't know how you guys can stand to look at that site even for fun -- my teeth would have fallen out by now from constant grinding.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:31 (twelve years ago) link
ugh
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:32 (twelve years ago) link
J.D., for me it's like replenishing bullets at an armory. I still have batshit relatives.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:33 (twelve years ago) link
leaving aside the sheer homophobic creepiness of that, the implication that WFB was somehow out of vidal's league looks-wise is pretty wtf
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:34 (twelve years ago) link
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yh0p83tykh0/TThbGRcHFwI/AAAAAAAAADQ/kGwJp0qcfv4/s1600/william-f-buckley-jr.jpg
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:36 (twelve years ago) link
well i think the implication is more that WFB didnt sleep with men
― Hungry4Ass, Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:40 (twelve years ago) link
ratfaced bastard xp
Rick Brookhiser looks like a fucking '50s space alien btw
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:41 (twelve years ago) link
I'll defend Brookhiser's The Outside Story, his acocunt of the '84 campaign. Good bon mots.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:44 (twelve years ago) link
Vidal was an attitudinizer who would say anything to be noticed, including shots at his own side.
ah yes his "side"
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:44 (twelve years ago) link
the AP obit called Vidal a liberal, con't think he wd be pleased.
I rather like the idea that Vidal’s passing is not being hailed as all that big a deal, because it isn’t.
yeah well, neither was JFK's. (except maybe it helped the civil rights bills along)
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:46 (twelve years ago) link
irl loled at this in that paris review thing alfred posted:
INTERVIEWERHave you ever thought of acting, as Norman Mailer does?VIDALIs that what he does?
VIDALIs that what he does?
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:49 (twelve years ago) link
yeah well, neither was JFK's
You don't really believe this, do you? Forgetting about politically, even--on a cultural level, if nothing else.
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:51 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, one of umpteen times class whore America lost her innicence yadda yadda
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:55 (twelve years ago) link
Yikes. I want to quote a line from Sweet Smell of Success, but I won't.
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:57 (twelve years ago) link
no really, there was a mournful "ppl watching Dallas '63 on the store window TV" scene when I saw The Wanderers recently, and I nearly yelled "Spare me."
was Malcolm X a cookie full of arsenic?
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 02:05 (twelve years ago) link
you wanna be up high where the air is balmy
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 02:07 (twelve years ago) link
It's a Gore Vidal thread, I don't want to sidetrack it, but I would hardly know where to begin disputing this. Maybe start with the PBS Warhol biography, the part that describes how the assassination affected him, and then go from there.
― clemenza, Thursday, 2 August 2012 02:08 (twelve years ago) link
the key word with Warhol is "affect"
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 August 2012 02:09 (twelve years ago) link
my favorite opening to a vidal essay:
Most Americans of a certain age can recall exactly where they were and what they were doing on October 20, 1964, when word came that Herbert Hoover was dead. The heart and mind of a nation stopped.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 2 August 2012 02:16 (twelve years ago) link
hahaha
Mr Veedle: "Andy Warhol is the only genius I've met with an IQ of 60."
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 02:17 (twelve years ago) link
really clem, you picked the wrong thread to cluck over ppl being poisonous.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 August 2012 02:18 (twelve years ago) link