[1968]
Posted on 11/25/2013 3:01:49 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Aside from being an essayist, novelist and screenwriter, Gore Vidal was a grade-one gossip, his published writings and private conversation stuffed with rumour and conspiratorial hints. But now, less than 18 months after Vidal passed into history, he is himself subject to the most reputation-destructive scuttlebutt there is: the suggestion that he may have been a paedophile.
In connection with a new book about Vidal, his half-sister and a nephew have hinted that he may have had a secret passion for underage boys. And Vidal more or less admitted it himself, writing in his memoir Palimpsest that he was "attracted to adolescent males".
Given this context, an incident in 1977 will also now bring literary cops running. Martin Amis, interviewing Vidal for the Observer, was required to give him copy approval, and was asked to change Amis's description of "homosexual" to "pansexual". Vidal was prissily fastidious about the meaning of words and his suggested substitution can be taken as a confession that nothing and no one was erotically off-limits.
A sexual dirt file allegedly kept by one of Vidal's many enemies, the late conservative thinker William Buckley, is said to have been thrown away after Buckley's death, and so definitive proof will be tricky. It also seems odd that no one claiming to be a victim has come forward, especially as Vidal left an estate of $37m (£23m) – a possible source of ire from his relatives, as he bequeathed the lot to Harvard University, where he had never studied, rather than them....
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Color me Un-Shocked
It means it was was just the work of another pedophile.
It means his “work” is still crap only the crap was written by a pedophile.
I really do not care what Gore Vidal’s inclinations were so long as he kept them to himself. We all have our crosses to bear and I know better than to judge people on their demons. It’s their actions that I am concerned about. And I pray if this is true that Gore Vidal did not victimize any young men.
Really???
Prepare to see him on the Nobel shortlist for Literature.
“Grownup nerds like Gore Vidal, and even he’s kissed more boys than I ever will.” — Lisa Simpson
means he is still the same POS he was before the report
Not to be overly technical, but attraction to adolescent or underage males does not necessarily or even probably equate to pedophilia.
Pedophilia has a technical meaning, which is attraction to prepubescent children, male or female.
Generally speaking, an adolescent has already passed through puberty, so the term would not technically apply. The term wanted is ephebophilia, which means attraction to adolescents, post-pubescent but not yet fully adult.
I have no problem with strong laws punishing sex with those who are underage, but I do think it is important not to blur the distinction between a six year old and a sixteen year old. Sex with either is morally wrong and may be illegal, but A is a LOT worse than B.
And they’re shocked about this? It’s pretty much ‘par for the course’ with that element.
It’s pointed out that apparently no victims ever came forward. He might have kept himself to porn and imaginations. It’s a sad age when Gore Vidal is pointed to as a paragon of virtue.
His memory should get the Joe Paterno treatment.
“But now, less than 18 months after Vidal passed into history, he is himself subject to the most reputation-destructive scuttlebutt there is: the suggestion that he may have been a paedophile.”
Hmmm. What would give them that idea?
“And Vidal more or less admitted it himself, writing in his memoir Palimpsest that he was “attracted to adolescent males”.
Damn fine reporting work going on here. Damn fine.
“Girls, Lisa- Boys kiss girls”- Marge Simpson
Me too, totally would not be shocked
[1968]
Not suprise
I don’t think he like Greta Garbo
I saw TCM docuemtary he call her Butch no good actress
With the exception of the last few decades, the norm for homosexual behavior around the world and throughout history has been between an adolescent male and an older man.
In ancient Greece and most other places, once a boy hit full adulthood continued sexual relations with him was considered perverted and/or weird. Same is true today in Afghanistan and many other places that never heard of PC.
He wrote some very good historical novels that were in no way perverted, i.e., no perverted sex and no explicit sex of any kind.
It was a series of American historical novels loosely following the ficitonal descendants of Aaron Burr. I read "1898," which was set from the Spanish-American war to WW1, and "Hollywood," of the 1920s. He interwove real historical figures into the stories, like Warren Harding, Woodrow Wilson, William Randolph Hearst, Henry Adams, etc.
They are very interesting books and, like I said, in no way salacious.
But it's hard to enjoy them now knowing something like this about the author.
He was never worth reading in the first place. One of those guys who are praised by liberals reviewers and academics, who never wrote a single book worth looking at.
As for whether he was a pedophile, he’s no longer around to hurt anyone, thankfully.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.