For his politics alone, Gore Vidal earned my respect, mainly because he was adamantly anti-war and opposed to the sniveling of the rich, which was ironic because he came from a wealthy family himself.
Perhaps only the children of wealth can afford to be so aggressive in the struggle against wealth?
I was a fan of his essays; more so than his novels.
Like his partial contemporary cohorts and occasional sparring partners, Capote and Mailer, he knew how to exploit his genius, ruffle the feathers of his ignorant and conservative mainstream critics, extend the boundaries of professionalism, and, polished to a fine sheen, annihilate the lesser informed.
He could give a shit what his critics thought. Always a valuable tool in the literary field.
Dead at 86.
TS
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