Gore Vidal's Final Memoir - “Point To Point Navigation”

[JEFF9K]

My lawyer friend tells me that in high school he considered himself a conservative until he heard a debate between William F. Buckley, Jr. and Gore Vidal. He has been a liberal ever since.

Gore Vidal was a public intellectual who led a long interesting life, rubbing elbows with the Roosevelts, Kennedys, Tennessee Williams, Johnny Carson, Rudolf Nureyev, etc., etc. He served in World War II, lived and traveled around the world, wrote novels, non-fiction, essays, plays, and he wrote for movies and TV shows. He penned this second and final memoir when he was 79.

The book consists of 53 chapters, typically 3 or 4 pages long - very user-friendly. Among the interesting items in “Point To Point Navigation”:

* His mother had 3 famous marriages. At the height of the Great Depression the family had 5 servants.

* FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt were great admirers of Amelia Earhart. Eleanor had a “Sapphic passion” that Amelia found disconcerting.

* Pope Pius XII had some strange beliefs, one of which led, at his death, to his being embalmed by an amateur taxidermist. While lying in state, his body turned emerald green, then exploded, causing several Swiss Guards to faint.

* Gore Vidal never set foot in a university, except as an “unconventional lecturer.”

* He calls the British House of Commons “democracy in action,” and says that their political system is much superior to ours.

* Christian evangelicals are causing problems in the military, to the point that Vidal envisions “troops that could very well heed a call to arms of a revolutionary sort.”

* “The Cheney-Bush junta reenacted the Goldwater agendum.”

* During his presidency, Jimmy Carter wasn't the wonderful man he is thought of as being today. Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev, at a White House meeting, asked for permission for his mother to visit the United States. The Soviets said it was okay, but Carter refused. Nureyev was shocked by the president's bad manners and put a Russian curse on him “causing Carter to lose the upcoming election.”

* Italy, where Vidal lived for many years, is an “oddly happy” nation, where “chaos is the norm.”

* The failure of the Bush administration to saves lives in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans is further proof that any first-world militarized nation can easily defeat the United States in a modern war.

“Point To Point Navigation” isn't a new book - it was published in 2006. I was lucky enough to buy a hardcover edition at the public library book sale for $1.00.

It's available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon, where it's described as a “witty and elegant autobiography” that “reflects on Gore Vidal's remarkable life.”

It's also available on the shelf at the library, if not at their used book sale.

[hlthe2b]

1. interesting...

I am very well educated and reasonably intelligent, but Gore Vidal always made me feel STUPID! He was quite the guy, though I'd like to hear Carter's side of that story described above. Given how poorly even many Democrats have treated Carter, I do not discount there being some bias going on there.

That said, it sounds like a good read. So glad that many out of print books (not that this one is...) are available on Kindle now.

[JEFF9K]

2. Carter's side of the story.

Nureyev was visiting Gore Vidal in Italy and dying of AIDS at the time he related the story to the author. Vidal wasn't involved with the meeting between Nureyev and Carter. Nureyev died soon afterwards. I don't think there was any bias on Vidal's part.

The book's only mention of interaction between Vidal and Carter is when Vidal relates the story of how he sent a telegram to Carter after the disastrous helicopter intervention in Iran during the hostage crisis. Vidal asked Carter to resign for disgracing the United States. Later Carter nixed the idea of a BBC documentary to be filmed in America which Carter may have thought was about Vidal. Vidal wasn't sure, but thought there might be a connection.

[Bagsgroove]

3. Mixed feelings about Mr. Vidal

I've been a big fan of Vidal's historical novels ("Lincoln" is a classic), but not much else.

Vidal was the kind of liberal that I usually wished was on the other side. His forte in political debate was hyperbole and snide insult.

He never seemed to be able to make a case without overstating his case. (e.g. quoted above - "The failure of the Bush administration to saves lives in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans is further proof that any first-world militarized nation can easily defeat the United States in a modern war".)

I recall a debate with Wm. F. Buckley where Buckley lost his famous cool and called Vidal, "you little queer." Buckley got a lot of deserved criticism for that, but few people seem to remember that his outburst was in response to being called a "crypto-nazi" by Vidal. As a gay man myself, I find Buckley's comment offensive. But I would find being called a Nazi far more offensive.

On the other hand...he was capable of some excellent one liners. When Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Vidal commented dryly, "Never underestimate the Scandinavian sense of humor."

Interesting man, brilliant novelist...but not a guy I'd want to sit down and have a beer with.

[JEFF9K]

4. Likability.

Vidal quotes from a letter that critic Oliver Evans sent to Tennessee Williams: "Vidal is not likable, at least not in any familiar way ..."