Gore Vidal

[yendi]

I tweeted about this last night, but you have to see it to believe it. Gore Vidal on BBCAmerica last night was simply bonkers:

Comments

[asim.livejournal.com]

WTF was that?

Damn. Vidal done fallen off the sanity wagon.

[yendi]

Yeah, he was just gonzo.

[sarabellum.livejournal.com]

what's your tweetname? i'd like to follow you!

[yendi]

Yendi, of course! :-)

[hangingfire.livejournal.com]

...what the hell was that?

[litch.livejournal.com]

the bbc feed was pretty good last night, missed this part (thankfully, it's a shame watching a what used to be a eloquent brilliant man)

[nishar.livejournal.com]

He must have forgotten his meds.

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

That makes me sad. Vidal is, or was, one of the sharpest thinkers and writers we've ever had. I think, in part, he's going deaf and didn't comprehend half of what the guy was asking him. And you can't really give someone like Vidal a few minutes to talk — he doesn't do sound bites. Also, if you read any of his interviews from the last year or so, he's simply not a very happy man anymore. He's like Vonnegut was near the end, when Vonnegut just sort of wanted to leave, having lived long enough.

Anyone whose only exposure to Vidal has been this YouTube clip should really hit the library and take out United States: Essays 1952-1992. His various 'State of the Union' essays are gold.