Gore Vidal Didn’t Stay Plastered

Last updated on: August 2, 2012 at 11:31 am by Jeremy Lott

Gore Vidal Didn’t Stay Plastered 2012-08-02T11:31:19-07:00 Jeremy Lott

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

News of Gore Vidal’s death has started the cycle of remembrances and recriminations. Real Clear Books has linked to both and likely will link to more as the week grinds on.

Roger Kimball writes that he found Vidal’s novels “unreadable…where they were not comically repellent” and complains specifically of “the jejune pornography of Myra Breckinridge.”

I didn’t dip deeply enough into the man’s work to render a broader judgment but did make the attempt to get through Live From Golgotha: The Gospel According to Gore Vidal at one point. That was a mistake. It was supposed to be a send up of the New Testament but was so poorly done that it wasn’t worth the effort to finish.

Vidal is most famous for his feud with William F. Buckley. They were doing dueling commentary for ABC on the 1968 Democratic Convention and Vidal called Buckley a “crypto-Nazi.” He later claimed it was a verbal flub. He had meant to call Buckley a “crypto-fascist,” which would have been So Much Better.

Buckley’s response has been reduced to this statement: “Now listen, you queer. Stop calling me a crypto-Nazi, or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face and you’ll stay plastered.”

That cuts out cross-talk and fails to catch the full fury of the exchange. Watch it below. You can see Vidal taunting Buckley and Buckley leaning forward and only just stopping himself from throwing a punch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYymnxoQnf8

Kimball writes that Buckley “ever after regretted losing his temper,” though it’s hard to see why. When I was promoting my short WFB bio, I argued Buckley ought to have popped him one.

That might have affected the future legal battles between the two men (they attacked each other in print and sued and counter-sued for libel; Buckley got a modest settlement out of Esquire), but if calling someone a Nazi to his face on national television doesn’t rise to the level of what the Supreme Court rightly calls “fighting words,” I’m not sure what ever would.

Lit Crit

Gore Vidal

William F. Buckley

Previous Post

August 2, 2012

Badminton to the Bone--or, A Shuttlecock and Bull Story

Next Post

August 3, 2012 Your Moment of Zen

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1600 24 Frames Per Second Adventures in Catholicism Evergreen Gay Old Time Hammockonomics Lit Crit Lit Life Paulistas Philosophy Press Crit PSA Q&A Sermons and Soda Water Shop Talk Silly Season Sounds Stupid Stupid People Uncategorized Warm Bucket Brigade Wine and Women Wisdom for the Ages

Select a Month April 2015 February 2015 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the voice in Revelation 6 say about food prices?

Select your answer to see how you score.

No one will go hungry A day's wages for a measure of wheat Free food for all Food will be multiplied