Eliza Gray, "Ties That Bind," in "The New Republic," June 7, 2012, at p. 15. (Gore Vidal's fears for America realized: Vice President Marco Rubio?)
Charles McGrath, "Gore Vidal: 1925-2012 -- Prolific, Elegant, Acerbic Writer," in "The New York Times," August 1, 2012, at p. A1.
On Tuesday, July 31, 2012, at his home in the Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA -- the pen fell from the hand of Gore Vidal.
Mr. Vidal will be remembered as America's finest essayist in the twentieth century and one of our greatest novelists of all time. I have posted a long essay examining Vidal's work and life at Mind Games. I see no need to repeat myself here.
I write these words after being prevented from writing at all yesterday, at public computers, against harassments and computer crimes that even Mr. Vidal could not have envisioned during the worst days of McCarthy's terrors or the final days of his struggle against the totalitarianism that he saw engulf the nation he served in the military and adored -- a nation that I still love and worry about.
In what little time I have left today, I wish to recognize what I take to be Vidal's unique importance to American letters and recommend his writings to young people busy at this very moment "twittering" about Kristin Stewart's love-life. Whatever. ("Whatever!" and "Nihilists in Disneyworld.")
Summarizing 86 years in the life of a man of genius, perhaps the final contributor to the American tradition of the novel of manners and ideas, is impossible under these circumstances and limitations. It is possible, however, to point out that Vidal has added several works ("Washington, D.C." and "The Golden Age") to a top shelf that contains the best of Henry James, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Luis Auchincloss.
Aside from Edward St. Aubyn in England and Alan Hollinghurst in New York, I cannot imagine any other English-language novelist today creating comparable social tapestries or an equally beautiful "dance to the music of time." Vidal claimed to be saving Anthony Powell's masterpiece for his old age. Did he get around to those books? I don't know.
Vidal's historical novels -- notably "Lincoln" and "Julian" -- are the best by an American writer in my lifetime. Socially, Vidal's brave efforts to defend the rights of gays and lesbians to equal treatment under the law were way ahead of his time. Gore Vidal was also a quiet supporter of the civil rights struggle led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- including providing financial support for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Vidal's amused contempt for subliterary ramblings by the politically correct thought police were expressed, appropriately, in several novels -- for example, "Duluth" and "The Smithsonian Institution."
Vidal opposed all forms of control over the minds of men and women, like Thomas Jefferson, whose administration was detested by Vidal's Arron Burr, but admired by the West Point-born and Fellini-dubbed "Gorino" as one of the best in our history. I concur.
Vidal's concern for justice for the powerless masses victimized in America's wars of "conquest and theft" in South Asia or in search of Middle East oil, were costly in terms of his career (especially when it came to reviews in the "Times"), but morally correct.
As I write these words, 2048 U.S. soldiers have died in Afghanistan, new bombings orchestrated by Al Qaeda with Pakistani intelligence and/or Haqqani clan "assistance" have taken place in Baghdad, Al Qaeda has spread to Bharain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, as Iran develops nuclear weapons. Nearly 10,000 Americans have died in Iraq, over 100,000 wounded in all struggles -- so far.
Vidal's hatred of abuse of power and corruption were combined with genuine passion for America's enshrining of fundamental rights in the best Constitution the world has ever known, a document which he came to see as endangered and, perhaps, made meaningless by the "Bush/Cheney junta" (Vidal's term) towards the end of his long life.
I hope Vidal is mistaken about that loss of the Constitution, but all the evidence suggests that he may be correct in this judgment. Our freedoms of speech and assembly, thought and worship, or the right not to worship, may be gone.
Vidal's sword wielded against the "military industrial complex" -- a "fearsome dragon" was his description of the American tendency toward fascism -- struck some forceful blows. Sadly -- no, TRAGICALLY -- I am also confident that Vidal's dismay in his final years resulted from the suspicion that the "dragon of totalitarianism" had mostly won in America. I agree.
The damage to civil liberties will not be easily undone. I cannot imagine many people bother to deny this concern today. My life and literary experiences on-line attest to its accuracy. Our traditional freedoms -- setting all rhetoric aside -- are a quaint memory or archaic feature of old films starring Mickey Rooney or James Stewart. ("Manifesto For the Unfinished American Revolution.")
Literature as a vital force in the public square along with the inheritance of high civilization for the bulk of the population that was to be "well and truly educated" (Thomas Jefferson) has dissipated and preceded Vidal into the grave. Most Americans do not read serious fiction or books of any kind, do not enjoy the fine arts, nor do they have any interest in science or philosophy, history or political theory. Americans enjoy something called "The Simpsons" and "Dance Moms From Miami."
Does this decline in the quality of our culture or civilization foreshadow a decline in military power and wealth? I suspect so. Every empire or civilization which has declined in cultural importance has also fallen in military power. One has merely to witness the sad spectacle of Mr. Mitt Romney in Britain, shortly before the Olympics, to see this point illustrated: "I like the Olympics!" Mr. Romney said: "I like sports! Even if these games do not seem well-organized."
No one can recall Mr. Romney's discussion of a single work of literature or philosophy during the entire campaign. Gore Vidal would add: "Let us be grateful for small favors."
In concluding the masterpiece "Myra Breckingridge," Gore Vidal offered his readers a slim hope for happiness in a world that then contained horrors like Truman Capote and the Vietnam War:
"Incidentally, I noticed a question scribbled in one of the margins of the notebook. Something she (I hate to say 'I') copied from some book about Jean Jacques Rousseau. I don't suppose it's giving away any secrets to say that like so many would-be intellectuals back East [,] Myra never actually read books, only books about books. Anyway the quotation still sort of appeals to me. It is about how humanity would have been a lot happier if it had kept to the middle ground between the indolence of the primitive state and the questing activity to which we are prompted by our self-esteem! [Prometheus in Beverly Hills or Ravello?] I think that is a very fine statement and one which, all in all, I'm ready to buy, since it is a proven fact that happiness, like the proverbial bluebird, is to be found in your own backyard if you just know where to look."
Gore Vidal, "Myra Breckingridge" (New York: Ballantine, 1967), PP. 276-277.
Gore Vidal has now found that happiness in heaven, I am sure, with Jimmy Trimble and Howard Austen, close friends like Paul Newman, and his beloved William Shakespeare, and many more friends and admirers. If I get to heaven (which is doubtful), I hope that I will receive an invitation to one of Gore Vidal's dinner parties.
Truman Capote, eat your heart out.
