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A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir

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RollsRoyceRevenge
11/13/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
All right--no one else has asked--who is the naked fellow?

Howard Austin away on a hunting trip somewhere?
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Pope John Peeps II
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
Well Alex, you sure set yourself out to be hated with these literary posts, no? I mean... it's the internet, so it doesn't actually matter, which I understand completely, but you set out to post a whole big essay about some dude's life, and everyone's only ever going to remember one throwaway sentence where you slag the two stages of his career.

A man doesn't have to use his talent to produce for his entire life. Sometimes he can simply sit back and retire. It doesn't make Gretzky any less a hockey player that he retired. Why try to invalidate all he's accomplished?
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rosaluxembourgeoise
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
Though he's still respected at the age of 83, he'll end up being more well known for his life than his literary talent.

Beg most emphatically to differ, Mr. Carnevale.
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lawyergay
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
Gore Vidal is fucking magnificent. Period. End of goddamn contortedly-closeted-but-not-really-Belize-living-for-a-bit-but-gloriously-stentorian-voiced-starfucking-but-also-kind-of-a-star-himself sentence.
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lawyergay
11/12/08

@lawyergay: That really didn't come off, somehow, in my Firefox browser.

The takeaway should have been somewhere between "OMG Gore Vidal!!!!" and "Gore Vidal's gay?"
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rosaluxembourgeoise
11/12/08

@lawyergay:

My developement was arrested somewhere around "OMG Gore Vidal!!!!"
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rosaluxembourgeoise
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
Instead of "Expat socialite and prodigious homosexual writer Gore Vidal", I'd go with "California resident and inimitable, fearless observer of The National Security State , since Harry Truman; a man of ferocious intellect, whose eloquent account of how his leadership's obsession with the Communist bogeyman crippled its people's ability to exercise critical thinking is invaluable, and likely irreplaceable."
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rosaluxembourgeoise
11/12/08

@rosaluxembourgeoise:

On second thought, I'd go with something grammatical.

I find myself tongue-tied, such is my admiration for Vidal, in particular his political essays. I remain awed that such wit and intellectual bravery cohabit the same mind.
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mladen
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
A favorite Gore zinger was one I witnessed when he appeared in my town to plug Point To Point Navigation. A woman stood up and asked whether he'd been too harsh on his mother in that book and Palimpsest. "Too harsh? On the contrary, madam, I was worried I might be too lenient. Let me assure you that the whole truth about my mother could only be written in letters of brimstone on sheets of asbestos."
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downlow
11/12/08

@mladen: You mean I'm not the only one with a cold, unloving mother?
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Pope John Peeps II
11/12/08

@downlow: some of us have flaming hot ridiculous unloving mothers.
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
11/13/08

@mladen: I think my mother loved me, but I'd sell her out anyway for a quip like that!
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ginger rant
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
Oh dear. This is making me sad, as it's reading like a eulogy-to-be, complete with pictures. Every time a high-profile artistic old dies I get a little blue, as I think our batting average goes down as a human race. (You listening to me, Celeste Holm? You're going NOWHERE. You hear?) Plus, there are that many fewer tethers to old New York. I mean, I know we didn't have black presidents and great stuff like that then, but there's something about 1940s in Manhattan that makes me nostalgic for something that I never knew.

Also: Did you see that guy's BUTT?!?! Ha ha ha ha ha ....
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still_htotheomo
11/12/08

@ginger rant: Celeste Holm needs a permission slip from to pass. I will NEVER give it.
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ginger rant
11/12/08

@still_htotheomo: I just wish we'd gotten to Myrna Loy in time ... Turns out she was a bit of an activist for the Democratic cause. Who knew?
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BookishLookish
11/12/08

@ginger rant: Kitty Carlisle Hart is the one I really miss. What a great lady.
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ginger rant
11/12/08

@BookishLookish: Yes--exactly. That ilk, era, sensibility, sense of humor. Who's left? Worse, who's next?
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MisterHippity
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
Hey speaking of books, I think Tom Colicchio has written a couple of books about cooking.

Hey, speaking of Tom Colicchio, the premiere of the new season of Top Chef is on tonight! In fact ...

Join the Top Chef Commenter Live Blog, tonight at 10 Eastern on Gawker! Post comments on the show, as it unfolds in real time! Drink too much! Play everybody's favorite game, "How Stoned Is Padma?"

See you there!!
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Pope John Peeps II
11/12/08

@MisterHippity: UGh. That was pretty distasteful.
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MisterHippity
11/12/08

@Pope John Peeps II: What, you didn't like my segue from using the "book" theme? I tried to keep it subtle ...
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Colonel Mustard
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
I have a serious weakness for the pulp mystery novels he wrote after The City and the Pillar got him blacklisted. They are so clearly the work of a bored man who is much better than his material, but they're snappy, irreverent, and fun. Frankly, they're everything the genre should be today.
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still_htotheomo
11/12/08

@Colonel Mustard: Titles. Please.
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Colonel Mustard
11/12/08

@still_htotheomo: He used the pseudonym "Edgar Box". The first was:

The second was:

And the last was:

There's a little bit of interesting background on Vidal's work as Edgar Box here...
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Lizawithazee
11/12/08

@Colonel Mustard: Thanks for the new obsession...
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Lizawithazee
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
Well, if I had to pick between being known for having a kick-ass life or having great talent, I think I'd pick the great life because I'm a hedonist and hell, I'd be dead so I wouldn't be able to enjoy the accolades post-mortem. Luckily for him and us, he had both.
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
11/13/08

@Lizawithazee: Has! He hasn't died yet!
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lululemming
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
Sigh. Who doesn't secretly want to be Gore Vidal?
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SarahHeartburn
11/12/08

@lululemming: The great thing is that he's outlived almost anyone who wouldn't want to be him.
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BlinkyMcChuck
11/12/08

@lululemming: Yeah. Two words: Lake Como.

Two more words: Hot man.

Why is no one talking about the vision rising up out of the pool?
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RollsRoyceRevenge
11/13/08

@lululemming: I'm guessing "Gore Vidal."
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Ogiri W Surie
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
Wow, he's aged quite a bit in past decade. God bless him though.
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shostakobitch
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
bookchat
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MrInBetween
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
I never knew flesh tsumanis could strike from the neck up.
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SarahHeartburn
11/12/08

@MrInBetween: You should live so long.
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MattGaymon
11/12/08

@MrInBetween: Amazingly they can also come through series of tubes.
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
11/13/08

@MrInBetween: Damn you, I just choked on my pasta reading this! Now my oesophagus is burned with black pepper.
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Hey_mikey
11/12/08

In reply to A First Draft of Gore Vidal's Illustrated Memoir
Wow. I'll always like Mr. Vidal for speaking up. He could have been quietly asexual and simply lived off the interest. Second, I like him for speaking up on behalf of the left. He had more than enough encouragement to be a self hater, but he managed to avoid that. I wish more gays had half as much moxie as he shows even as a senior citizen.

Win.
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SarahHeartburn
11/12/08

@Hey_mikey: Asexual? Far from it. His relationship with his companion was platonic, but that doesn't mean he didn't delve into the joys of the flesh. His point was that a long-term, peaceful relationship - at least for him - worked better without sex.
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