Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidalwas an American writerand a public intellectual known for his patrician manner, epigrammatic wit, and polished style of writing...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth3 October 1925
CityWest Point, NY
CountryUnited States of America
anywhere known memoir near truth
I've yet to read a memoir by anyone I've known at all well that came anywhere near to the truth.
army atrocities french referring sartre time victim
It is true, as Sartre once wrote, referring to French Army atrocities in Algeria, that the real tragedy in our time is that any of us can be, interchangeably, victim or torturer.
admiral arthur based coup days enjoyed jack kennedy later military plans thriller white
Jack Kennedy very much enjoyed Fletcher Knebel's thriller 'Seven Days in May,' later a film. The story: a jingo based on the real-life Admiral Arthur Radford plans a military coup to take over the White House.
human ought time
The human race is plainly nothing in eternity, but to us, in time, it is everything and ought not to die.
hear surprised
A friend was surprised to hear me say that there was not one moment of my past that I would like to relive.
fascinated
I cannot remember when I was not fascinated by Henry Adams.
unbearable
What I am is something unbearable for the world of journalism and the world of cliches. I'm a realist.
axes believe comedic drama good grinding prefer prose sharper writer
Primarily, I am a prose writer with axes to grind, and the theatre is a good place to do the grinding in. I prefer comedy to 'serious' drama because I believe one can get the ax sharper on the comedic stone.
common differs homosexual individual knowledge natural
What the Kinseyites and I had in common so long ago was the knowledge that homosexual and heterosexual behavior are natural to all mammals, and that what differs from individual to individual is the balance between these two complementary but not necessarily conflicted drives.
anger nature normal threshold
I think I have a normal threshold of anger, but it's true that I am, by nature, belligerent.
forces harness might various
If you are a Representative and want to be a Senator, you must be careful not to do anything which might upset the various forces you need to harness to get elected.
civilian corps happened quick riding roosevelt works
By 1939, the Depression was back. Unemployment was huge. Roosevelt didn't have any quick fix. Remember, the New Deal, Works Progress Administration, and Civilian Conservation Corps - all that happened years before. Roosevelt was riding a storm.
became began hemisphere relatively risen west western
Europe began as the relatively empty, uncivilized Wild West of Asia; then the Western Hemisphere became the Wild West of Europe. Now the sun has set in our West and risen once more in the East.
compared dislikes
I am told the Cheney-Bush team dislikes their junta being compared to the Nazis. If they ceased behaving like Nazis, no comparison would come to mind.