RIP Gore Vidal

At 86.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/01/gore-vidal-dead-author-playwright-intellectual-obituary_n_1726666.html

 

For extra credit, explain the link between Gore Vidal and Lily Tomlin. No Google.

 

I hope to catch the celestial feed of his debate with William F. Buckley on gay marriage.

 

Will only say that "Burr" and "Lincoln" were wonderful historical novels, and way outside the voice and thoughts of Vidal the man. To me, that's a real novelist's work. RIP.

 

Isn't she a stepdaughter of his?......Another trivia......What former president was he a distant cousin of?

 

If you can find them, and it'll take some doing, because they've been out of print for at least half a century, I heartily recommend three murder mysteries Vidal wrote under the pen name Edgar Box. Two of the titles were "Death in the Fifth Position" and "Death Likes It Hot." I forget the third title. Nice, light, breezy mysteries in which the first person narrator is about as different from Vidal as could be imagined.

 

Is the third "Death Before Bedtime?"

They are available as e-books in IBooks, and Vidal's name is now on the cover. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

The NYTimes has a long and rambling obit but worth reading.

They don't make them like Mr. Vidal any more.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/books/gore-vidal-elegant-writer-dies-at-86.html?_r=2

 

Not even close.

 

Hearing about Vidal's death had me recalling a clip of "The Dick Cavett Show" I once saw, which ended with a memorable line from Cavett (which I thought he had said to Vidal, but actually Norman Mailer was on the receiving end). I just found it on YouTube. It was Cavett, Vidal, Mailer and writer Janet Flanner:

With all the shoutfests you see on the cable news channels these days, I was fascinated by how heated and childish, yet so intellectual, this four-way argument was.

 

RIP Gore Vidal.

 

I can't wait until a prominent "birthed" idea, and the Times celebrates their life and intellect: