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Writers, Activists Reflect On Vidal Legacy

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  • Writers, Activists Reflect On Vidal Legacy

    WRITERS, ACTIVISTS REFLECT ON VIDAL LEGACY
    by Khatchig Mouradian

    http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/08/01/writers-activists-reflect-on-vidal-legacy/
    August 1, 2012

    David Barsamian, the founder and director of Alternative Radio,
    once asked Gore Vidal how he wanted to be remembered. "Anybody who
    is stupid enough to want to be remembered deserves to be forgotten
    right now," quipped the prominent writer.

    Gore Vidal in 1977 at his home in Los Angeles. (Photo credit: AP)
    The 86-year-old icon passed away on July 31. Whether he wanted to be
    remembered or not, he has made an indelible mark on America's cultural
    and political landscape. Barsamian considers him a singular figure
    who, "coming from a background of privilege and power, nevertheless
    challenged many of the prevailing notions about Washington's intentions
    and actions domestically and internationally."

    I asked Barsamian about Vidal's legacy. "He was a student of history
    and incorporated his vast knowledge into a series of best-selling
    novels as well as political books. Referring to the U.S., he coined
    the phrase 'the United States of Amnesia.' He was deeply troubled
    by the erosion of freedom at home and the expansion of American
    imperialism around the world. He saw the two joined at the hip. To
    call him acerbic would be an understatement. He was, as they say in
    cricket, an all-arounder, someone who could play many positions and
    assume multiple roles."

    Vidal was a prolific writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter,
    actor, and activist. He was also known for his wit:

    "Fifty percent of people won't vote, and fifty percent don't read
    newspapers. I hope it's the same fifty percent."

    "It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail."

    "Never have children, only grandchildren."

    "Our form of democracy is bribery, on the highest scale."

    "There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would
    simply do as I advise."

    Novelist Nancy Kricorian remembers how she was first introduced to
    Vidal's work. "When I was 16, I babysat for a European academic couple
    who was living in Watertown while the husband did a post-doctoral
    fellowship at MIT. It was in their home that I discovered a tattered
    paperback copy of Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge, which I furtively
    read after the toddlers were tucked into their beds. Having been
    raised in the puritanical Armenian Evangelical Church, my eyebrows
    were up to my hairline as I turned the pages."

    Kricorian continued, "From this first introduction to Gore Vidal's
    work to seeing a Broadway revival of his play 'The Best Man' only
    a few months ago, I have long admired the audacity and wit of this
    American iconoclast. In recent years, I have been inspired by his
    acerbic denunciations of American imperial adventures."

    Writer Ara Baliozian described Vidal as "brilliant, insightful, sharp,
    eminently readable, and thoroughly anti-establishment!"

    Scholar and activist Dikran Kaligian noted, "Gore Vidal's publications
    and speeches rejected the mainstream frame of discussion whether it
    was regarding Vietnam or the Cold War, Iraq or social justice. His
    novels looked at key periods in American history from a different
    perspective, reminding us of the progressive and left-wing movements
    that have always been important players in this country, but which
    have been whited-out of history books and current media reportage."

    Kaligian, who is the chair of the Armenians and Progressive Politics
    Conference to be held on Sept. 28-29 at Columbia University, added,
    "The issues of human rights and self-determination, historical
    injustice, and social democracy, which are so important to the Armenian
    people, were always prominent in Gore Vidal's writings. He was a true
    public intellectual and will be sorely missed."

    Barsamian concurred. "We shan't see the likes of him again very soon."

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