Gore Vidal, R.I.P.

Acclaimed essayist and novelist Gore Vidal died earlier this week at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86-years-old.

I don't really have a lot to say about him, or the number of glowing eulogies that are sure to come trickling in this week, so I'll just direct you to Garland Grey's post for Tiger Beatdown , which touches on some of the more problematic aspects of his career like defending Roman Polanski, claiming anti-semitism, and the novel Myra Breckinridge which relies on some tired old tropes about trans women -- the things that are getting the gloss-over by the mainstream press:

I don’t have a lot of dealbreakers, but defending rapists is definitely one of them. I take charges of Anti-Semitism very seriously, but I also know that sometimes (as when people show even a sliver of support or concern for the state of Palestine and its people) accusations of such are misused to shut the conversation all the way down. What I know is that whatever super insidery knowledge these people had, their primary quibble was that International Film Festivals should be a safe space for auteur rapists and not for people they might rape. What is the rule of law next to cinematic vision, I ask you? Hasn’t Polanski been through enough, fleeing to Europe and having to attend the Oscars via telecast… LIKE AN ANIMAL?!?!