[Donna]

Gore Vidal, celebrated author, playwright, dies
Vidal died at his home in the Hollywood Hills of complications from pneumonia, nephew says

Gore Vidal, the author, playwright, politician and commentator whose novels, essays, plays and opinions were stamped by his immodest wit and unconventional wisdom, died Tuesday, his nephew said.

Vidal died at his home in the Hollywood Hills at about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday of complications from pneumonia, Burr Steers said. Vidal had been living alone in the home and had been sick for "quite a while," he said.

Along with such contemporaries as Norman Mailer and Truman Capote, Vidal was among the last generation of literary writers who were also genuine celebrities — fixtures on talk shows and in gossip columns, personalities of such size and appeal that even those who hadn't read their books knew who they were.

His works included hundreds of essays; the bestselling novels Lincoln and Myra Breckenridge; the groundbreaking The City and the Pillar, among the first novels about openly gay characters; and the Tony-nominated play The Best Man, revived on Broadway in 2012.

Tall and distinguished looking, with a haughty baritone not unlike that of his conservative arch-enemy William F. Buckley, Vidal appeared cold and cynical on the surface. But he bore a melancholy regard for lost worlds, for the primacy of the written word, for "the ancient American sense that whatever is wrong with human society can be put right by human action."

Vidal was uncomfortable with the literary and political establishment, and the feeling was mutual. Beyond an honorary National Book Award in 2009, he won few major writing prizes, lost both times he ran for office and initially declined membership into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, joking that he already belonged to the Diners Club. (He was eventually admitted, in 1999).

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/ ... tuary.html

[Ambroise]

I have been trying to get through a biography on him for weeks without much luck, perhaps I will finish it after all.I don't know why I was somewhat surprised when I read this, since I had been anticipating this for quite some time. He came to McGill last year and his health had been faltering drastically and he had completely disappeared from public life shortly after the last Presidential election. In any event, even though I consider myself to be on the far-left, and thus not a liberal, he was certainly my favourite liberal(though he was radical in some ways, seemed rather sympathetic to socialism at times, so it's a bit hard to tell) and someone whom I have long admired. A good and entertaining writer; unconventional and ahead of the curb; always insightful and one of few people in American mainstream who challenged American hegemony. Certainly one of the better American public intellectuals. I was always fascinated by the vast amount of famous heads he hobnobbed with.

I will miss his witty insight. RIP.

[dgun]

A good and entertaining writer

That he was. A bit arrogant, but we can let that slide.

RIP.

[J Oswald]

I hadn't realized he was so old.

RIP

[Oleh Hadash]

As usual, the CBC refuses to identify Gore Vidal as a leftist, beyond describing William Buckley as his "arch-rival". Conversely, the headline for William Buckley's death identified him as a conservative. We can conclude one thing about the operations at the state broadcaster known as the CBC, that there are two political sides: normal and conservative.

[Brother of Karl]

Nobody cares about your trolling, man. Take your conspiracy theories about the CBC to the relevant forum.

RIP Vidal, he was a great man.

[Oleh Hadash]

There's nothing conspiratorial going on. The CBC has a well-known leftist bias, which I've demonstrated through their double-standard in describing William Buckley as a conservative in an article covering his death, while not describing Gore Vidal's political orientation when covering his death. One is left to conclude the obvious, that the CBC recognises two primary political orientations: normal and conservative.

Ironically, I compose a post of content, and I get attacked as a troll with a one-liner troll post. People like yourself are why PoFo is such a garbage site.

[Decky]

People like yourself are why PoFo is such a garbage site

I you don't like it keep in mind that no one is forcing you to stay.

[dgun]

Not that I care, but..

There's nothing conspiratorial going on. The CBC has a well-known leftist bias, which I've demonstrated through their double-standard in describing William Buckley as a conservative in an article covering his death, while not describing Gore Vidal's political orientation when covering his death. One is left to conclude the obvious, that the CBC recognises two primary political orientations: normal and conservative.

That's a pretty small sample to draw such a conclusion from, don't you think?

[Ignite]

I wonder how that whole being an atheist thing is working out for him now.

[Suska]

Julian was good.

Ciao

[Oleh Hadash]

That's a pretty small sample to draw such a conclusion from, don't you think?

This is obviously not the first or last example of blatant leftist bias at the CBC. It wouldn't be a problem if it was a private institution. Unfortunately for Canada, that's not the case.

[Stranger]

I wonder how that whole being an atheist thing is working out for him now.

Being dead and all I would guess he's pretty much indifferent.

[Someneck]

Being dead and all I would guess he's pretty much indifferent.

Like it.

We atheists die serene, and without the worries of the religious, whose death-bed expression resembles an Olympic athlete waiting for the scoreboard to light up

As if dying isn't tough enough without a 2,000 year old guy making it an ordeal of uncertainty

[Stranger]

We atheists die serene, and without the worries of the religious, whose death-bed expression resembles an Olympic athlete waiting for the scoreboard to light up

[Ignite]

We atheists die serene, and without the worries of the religious, whose death-bed expression resembles an Olympic athlete waiting for the scoreboard to light up

And then is that when you start to think "Hey....what's that burning smell? It's kinda hot....what the?!"

[Ambroise]

"His vision of paradise is probably the weakest thing He's got going for Him.We're all better on hell since we lived more of it."

--Gore Vidal

I'd say he's doing quite fine.

[Someneck]

Apparently he didn't believe in hetero/homo sexual - he believed in "pansexual" but I don't know if he spent a lot of time in the kitchen.

Amazing that he was so open minded being born into the theistic society which is the USA - but he was born in the north East where people are allowed to think independently without approbation, so that may explain it

If he had been born in Lagrange Georgia, he would have died a shoe salesman

[Paradigm]

I'll always remember him as the guy who called William F. Buckley a crypto-nazi:

[youtube]nYymnxoQnf8[/youtube]

R.I.P.

[Soixante-Retard]

"There is no such thing as a homosexual or a heterosexual person. There are only homo -- or heterosexual acts. Most people are a mixture of impulses if not practices."

Gore Vidal

Requiescat in pace