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Startg 1963, Vidal was a regular ntributor to <em>The</em> <em>New York Review of Books</em>, which published about three of his review-says every year, and rejected, as too borg or too ntent, some of his most substantial work this form—“French Letters: Theori of the New Novel,” “The Holy Fay,” about the Kennedys, and “Pk Triangle and Yellow Star,” origally lled “Some Gays and the Jews.” (The beneficiari were <em>Enunter</em>, <em>Esquire</em>, and <em>The Natn</em>, the magaze where much of Vidal’s later polil wrg appeared.)</p><p class="paywall">Pari nicely scrib the “lofty timacy” of Vidal’s style, and mak a strong se for Vidal as one of the crics who helped to “enlarge and refe” the book-review say. But, llg Vidal’s book reviews “his very own Harvard,” Pari miss both their strength and their weakns. Apart om a few exercis self-tn—such as “French Letters,” “Amerin Plastic,” and a review of the <em>Tim</em> bt-seller list—Vidal tend to wre on subjects which he was already expert. The virtue of his bt says—the source of their fluent thory and zty phrasg, along wh the equently heavy provisn of gossip—is that he knew the subjects backward and forward, eher as a rear (“Tarzan Revised,” “On Rereadg the Oz Books,” “The Goln Bowl of Henry Jam”) or as an acquatance (“Rememberg Orson Well”), or both, the se of Christopher Isherwood, whose “I am a mera” nce Vidal sctized an say om 1976:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>Bee of those four words he has been wrten of (and sometim wrten off) as a naturalistic wrer, a rerr of surfac, a film director <em>manqué</em>. Although is te that, up to a pot, Isherwood often appears to be rerdg perhaps too impartially the lights, the shadows, the lns that e wh the area of his visn, he is never whout surpris; the urse of what looks to be an unmandg narrative, the thor will sudnly produce a Polaroid shot of the rear readg, an alarmg effect achieved by the sly e of the send person pronoun. You never know que where you stand relatn to an Isherwood work.</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Like many before him, Pari says that Vidal is a better sayist than he is a novelist. It’s a posn that tends to emphasize the shortgs of Vidal’s fictn—all the thgs he didn’t try to do—while overlookg the vic of his says. Mart Amis, wrg, as he later admted, om snt faiary wh Vidal’s fictn, said that Vidal was too clever to wre novels but not too clever to wre says, bee “you n’t be too clever for them.” But you n be too angry and too anx, too cut off om the taproot of your own strong opns.</p><p class="paywall">Every sayist is a product of his own hobbyhors, but few claim as vehemently as Vidal to be offerg not a view but the Tth. If his novels turned his public persona to an athetic, his says tried to turn his private anxieti to pots of tellectual tegry. Sometim he succeed. In an exchange of letters <em>The</em> <em>New York Review of Books</em>, he advised John Bayley that “The Goln Bowl” is about force, not about love, vokg a readg of Jamian irony and makg work, jt about. At other tim, his arguments look merely like anim.</p><p class="paywall">Pari says that Vidal worried that “beg exclively gay . . . terfered wh” his theori about sexualy. But the reason Vidal me up wh those pansexual theori was so that he uld tell the world he was not exclively gay. It may be te, as Vidal equently mataed, that “gay and straight” are “nonexistent tegori,” but the pot was to tablish that although he lived wh a man, and had sex only wh men, he was not, and never uld be, merely a “homosexual.” (Vidal told Amis that he had been readg D. H. Lawrence: “Every page I thk, J, what a fag. J, what a <em>faggot</em> this guy sounds.”)</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="chyve"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div data-ttid="RowWrapper" class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="818via"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">A general distaste for thory unrpned a number of Vidal’s posns. For years, he slammed practil cricism for what he lled s “slow killg of the work through a close textual analysis.” Yet, 1979, an attack on another bugbear—the emphasis, beyond ame, on a wrer’s personaly—he enlisted the New Crics to his e, and regretted that “the palads of the word have long sce fad away.” And his wrg on Ameri (the “natnal secury state” at home, the empire abroad) was beholn to a dark, clist view. In the age of the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, and the Iran-Contra affair, he looked nny. But when the facts changed he didn’t change his md, bee his md had not been formed by facts to beg wh. Vidal’s view of the world was the oppose of supple, and someone who says, “It always down to money,” is bound to be wrong at least some of the time. Proof posive that Vidal’s journalism was anythg but a voyage of disvery me 1971, when, at the requt of the Los Angel <em>Tim</em>, he reviewed a new book that he had known about for more than twenty years. “If there is one theme to Volume Four, is Anaïs’s formidable will to power,” Vidal wrote, and though he referred passg to N’s accurate portra of young “Litenant Vidal,” he ed the ocsn to tablish once aga what he believed were their differenc philosophy, knockg her “ntempt for tellect . . . her mystil belief Love”—as if slammg an old iend’s book her home-town newspaper (N had lived L.A. for years) did anythg but show that love might be a eful thg to have around.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-4 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The N review was a classic stance of what Michael Mewshaw, his recent memoir “Sympathy for the Devil: Four Des of Friendship wh Gore Vidal” (Farrar, Strs & Giroux), lls “the chilly, unrg misanthrope portrayed by the prs.” The man he knew was eager to please and sensive to slights—and not always happy to show . His late memoirs, “Palimpst” (1995) and “Pot to Pot Navigatn” (2006), Mewshaw wr, “ntaed strikgly ltle trospectn, few tly timate revelatns . . . almost nothg about the people he mixed wh on a daily basis”—and no hts that Vidal “was genero, hospable, loyal to iends.”</p><p class="paywall">Reprisg N’s rponse to “The Cy and the Pillar” half a century earlier, Mewshaw spends a few pag scratchg his head over “Palimpst,” an acunt of Vidal’s first four s. He grew bored by Vidal’s prentatn of himself as “the yoga master of world-wears” and exprsed bafflement as to “why so many of the emotns I had wnsed him over the years had been leted om this draft of his life.” (Wrg about “Pot to Pot Navigatn,” Pari admir the way Vidal “rtras his emotns.”) Mewshaw rells readg “Palimpst” when he was livg London and Vidal was town on a promotnal tour, and notg the dispary between the book’s announcement of personal happs—“I am past all ser sire for anythg. . . . The Buddha was right: To want is to suffer”—and “the man who jt the night before at the Connght had dnk himself to the brk of unnscns.”</p><p class="paywall">In the openg pag of “Sympathy for the Devil,” Mewshaw exprs the hope that the noise around Vidal has died down enough to “allow for” an “alternative asssment.” So far, the evince seems mixed. In a five-hundred-word “lightng raid” that appeared on the <em>Vany Fair</em> Web se, Jam Woltt—the thor of “The Gore Supremacy,” a Kdle Sgle published after Vidal’s ath—objected to the offscreen, life-size figure Mewshaw’s book, pecially his “glassy-eyed, fallg-down senr moments.” Vidal shouldn’t be remembered that way, Woltt said. He was suave and smooth. He amed whout effort. He didn’t re what people thought—and he didn’t re who knew that he didn’t re what people thought. Woltt nsoled himself wh pickg out the “hilar aperç and asis” reunted the book, as when Vidal challenged Mewshaw to name the three sadst words the English language, and supplied the answer: Joyce Carol Oat. This is the image of Vidal that seems sted to endure: rtoonish, two-dimensnal, other than human. But, although Vidal ma “harsh cril remarks” about Oat at every opportuny, Pari explas, he once ught him readg a volume of her says, and—“he admted”—enjoyg them. ♦</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="vh1qbo"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM 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bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Page-Turner</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/books/page-turner/postscript-gore-vidal" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Postscript: Gore Vidal</div></a><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Hilton Als</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/books/page-turner/gore-vidals-tective-novels" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Gore Vidal’s Detective Novels" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Page-Turner</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/books/page-turner/gore-vidals-tective-novels" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Gore Vidal’s Detective Novels</div></a><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Seth Colter Walls</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Spectre of Andrew Cuomo Contu to Hnt New York" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Our Lol Corrponnts</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Spectre of Andrew Cuomo Contu to Hnt New York</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Spectre of Andrew Cuomo Contu to Hnt New York" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">The former ernor is out of office, fixated on gettg even, and loomg over state polics.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Eric Lach</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="An Ambassador Whout a Country" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">A Reporter at Large</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">An Ambassador Whout a Country</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="An Ambassador Whout a Country" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">The Afghan statman Zalmai Rassoul is regnized by the ernments of the Uned Kgdom and Ireland—but not by the Taliban.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div 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gore vidal gay

Gore Vidal's spat wh Charlton Hton over gay 'Ben-Hur' subtext

Contents:

GORE VIDAL’S SPAT WH CHARLTON HTON OVER GAY ‘BEN-HUR’ SUBTEXT

* gore vidal gay *

It wasn’t as bad as “faggot, ” but rried a dose of ntempt as strong or stronger than most of the other risive ephets for those whom, back then, only gay people lled gay. The ldly clil term “homosexual, ” which some now fd to be as dub as “Negro, ” was seldom seen as herently rogatory. “Gay” is too male, “gay and lbian” sufficiently clive, L.

)Though Vidal never “intified” as gay—he never “me out”— was hardly a secret that the thor of “The Cy and the Pillar” was, to e his own favored term, a homosexualist. Buckley was a reactnary, arguably a racist, and arguably a homophobe.

’Vidal boasted that he’d had 1, 000 sexual partners by the time he was private - surround by his terie of celebry iends such as Prcs Margaret, Pl Newman, Audrey Hepburn and his step-sister, Jacquele Kennedy - he loved nothg better than to brag about his rapac homosexualy. The startlg accatns are ntaed a new book about the wrer’s private life that also reveals - the c language that the outspoken Vidal loved to e - how he worked his way through the gay aterny of Fifti Hollywood, sleepg wh the lik of Rock Hudson, Fred Astaire and Noel Coward.

HOW ONE SEXY GAY NOVEL RAILED GORE VIDAL'S LERARY REER

After the celebrated wrer divulged that he fed a gay subtext to Ben-Hur, he and the film's star, Charlton Hton, ded out prt. * gore vidal gay *

Rrponnt for The Tim, believ that where Vidal’s gay affairs are ncerned, Bowers’ acunt is credible. Vidal was a Hollywood screenwrer the Fifti, boastg that he once serted a gay-love subplot to the film ed his Hollywood nnectns to troduce him to many of his famo clients and Astaire may have married twice and had children, but Vidal told his nephew he sced the famo dancer and actor Hollywood.

Perhaps this vlence was bee, the words of a close iend, Vidal was a ‘self-hatg gay’ who always claimed he was pable of beg attracted to both sex.

GORE VIDAL'S DEFENSE OF BEN-HUR'S GAY SUBTEXT

'Tryg to make tegori is very Amerin, very stupid, and very dangero.' Gore Vidal’s refal to intify as gay was nsistent wh a man who worshipped ancient Greece, but was out of step wh the tim which he lived. * gore vidal gay *

Vidal also claimed that he didn't believe gay people, jt gay sexual acts. Vidal first enuntered Aten at one of New York's gayt lotns of s time.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GORE VIDAL GAY

Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 4.60601 17.0007 3.52508C15.0875 2.44415 12.6412 3.08562 11.5366 4.95785L9.53657 8.34782C8.432 10.22 9.08751 12.6141 11.0007 13.6949C11.1888 13.8012 11.382 13.8908 11.5785 13.9642C11.7819 14.0403 12.0058 13.9485 12.1147 13.764C12.2794 13.4849 12.1103 13.1276 11.8083 12.9992C11.7041 12.9549 11.6014 12.9044 11.5007 12.8475C10.0658 12.0368 9.57417 10.2413 10.4026 8.83712L12.4026 5.44715C13.2311 4.04298 15.0658 3.56187 16.5007 4.37257C17.9356 5.18327 18.4272 6.97878 17.5988 8.38295L16.3488 10.5017ZM7.6526 13.4983C7.79067 13.2643 7.70873 12.965 7.46959 12.8299C7.23044 12.6948 6.92464 12.775 6.78657 13.009L5.53657 15.1278C4.432 17 5.0875 19.394 7.00068 20.475C8.91385 21.5558 11.3602 20.9144 12.4648 19.0422L14.4648 15.6521C15.5694 13.78 14.9139 11.3859 13.0007 10.305C12.8127 10.1988 12.6195 10.1091 12.4229 10.0357C12.2195 9.95975 11.9956 10.0515 11.8867 10.236C11.7221 10.5151 11.8911 10.8724 12.1932 11.0008C12.2973 11.0451 12.4 11.0956 12.5007 11.1525C13.9356 11.9632 14.4272 13.7587 13.5988 15.1628L11.5988 18.5529C10.7704 19.957 8.93555 20.4382 7.50068 19.6274C6.0658 18.8167 5.57417 17.0212 6.4026 15.6171L7.6526 13.4983Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Pari giv a better acunt of Vidal’s nonfictn wrg, which started “by chance,” but soon beme “a full-blown sub-reer.” As he worked on “Julian,” Vidal also wrote most of the reviews, says, and profil that appeared his first llectn, “Rockg the Boat.” (“Gore Vidal is now a cric, which means he is crematg people,” N wrote.) Startg 1963, Vidal was a regular ntributor to <em>The</em> <em>New York Review of Books</em>, which published about three of his review-says every year, and rejected, as too borg or too ntent, some of his most substantial work this form—“French Letters: Theori of the New Novel,” “The Holy Fay,” about the Kennedys, and “Pk Triangle and Yellow Star,” origally lled “Some Gays and the Jews.” (The beneficiari were <em>Enunter</em>, <em>Esquire</em>, and <em>The Natn</em>, the magaze where much of Vidal’s later polil wrg appeared.)</p><p class="paywall">Pari nicely scrib the “lofty timacy” of Vidal’s style, and mak a strong se for Vidal as one of the crics who helped to “enlarge and refe” the book-review say. But, llg Vidal’s book reviews “his very own Harvard,” Pari miss both their strength and their weakns. Apart om a few exercis self-tn—such as “French Letters,” “Amerin Plastic,” and a review of the <em>Tim</em> bt-seller list—Vidal tend to wre on subjects which he was already expert. The virtue of his bt says—the source of their fluent thory and zty phrasg, along wh the equently heavy provisn of gossip—is that he knew the subjects backward and forward, eher as a rear (“Tarzan Revised,” “On Rereadg the Oz Books,” “The Goln Bowl of Henry Jam”) or as an acquatance (“Rememberg Orson Well”), or both, the se of Christopher Isherwood, whose “I am a mera” nce Vidal sctized an say om 1976:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>Bee of those four words he has been wrten of (and sometim wrten off) as a naturalistic wrer, a rerr of surfac, a film director <em>manqué</em>. Although is te that, up to a pot, Isherwood often appears to be rerdg perhaps too impartially the lights, the shadows, the lns that e wh the area of his visn, he is never whout surpris; the urse of what looks to be an unmandg narrative, the thor will sudnly produce a Polaroid shot of the rear readg, an alarmg effect achieved by the sly e of the send person pronoun. You never know que where you stand relatn to an Isherwood work.</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Like many before him, Pari says that Vidal is a better sayist than he is a novelist. It’s a posn that tends to emphasize the shortgs of Vidal’s fictn—all the thgs he didn’t try to do—while overlookg the vic of his says. Mart Amis, wrg, as he later admted, om snt faiary wh Vidal’s fictn, said that Vidal was too clever to wre novels but not too clever to wre says, bee “you n’t be too clever for them.” But you n be too angry and too anx, too cut off om the taproot of your own strong opns.</p><p class="paywall">Every sayist is a product of his own hobbyhors, but few claim as vehemently as Vidal to be offerg not a view but the Tth. If his novels turned his public persona to an athetic, his says tried to turn his private anxieti to pots of tellectual tegry. Sometim he succeed. In an exchange of letters <em>The</em> <em>New York Review of Books</em>, he advised John Bayley that “The Goln Bowl” is about force, not about love, vokg a readg of Jamian irony and makg work, jt about. At other tim, his arguments look merely like anim.</p><p class="paywall">Pari says that Vidal worried that “beg exclively gay . . . terfered wh” his theori about sexualy. But the reason Vidal me up wh those pansexual theori was so that he uld tell the world he was not exclively gay. It may be te, as Vidal equently mataed, that “gay and straight” are “nonexistent tegori,” but the pot was to tablish that although he lived wh a man, and had sex only wh men, he was not, and never uld be, merely a “homosexual.” (Vidal told Amis that he had been readg D. H. Lawrence: “Every page I thk, J, what a fag. J, what a <em>faggot</em> this guy sounds.”)</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="chyve"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div data-ttid="RowWrapper" class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="818via"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">A general distaste for thory unrpned a number of Vidal’s posns. For years, he slammed practil cricism for what he lled s “slow killg of the work through a close textual analysis.” Yet, 1979, an attack on another bugbear—the emphasis, beyond ame, on a wrer’s personaly—he enlisted the New Crics to his e, and regretted that “the palads of the word have long sce fad away.” And his wrg on Ameri (the “natnal secury state” at home, the empire abroad) was beholn to a dark, clist view. In the age of the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, and the Iran-Contra affair, he looked nny. But when the facts changed he didn’t change his md, bee his md had not been formed by facts to beg wh. Vidal’s view of the world was the oppose of supple, and someone who says, “It always down to money,” is bound to be wrong at least some of the time. Proof posive that Vidal’s journalism was anythg but a voyage of disvery me 1971, when, at the requt of the Los Angel <em>Tim</em>, he reviewed a new book that he had known about for more than twenty years. “If there is one theme to Volume Four, is Anaïs’s formidable will to power,” Vidal wrote, and though he referred passg to N’s accurate portra of young “Litenant Vidal,” he ed the ocsn to tablish once aga what he believed were their differenc philosophy, knockg her “ntempt for tellect . . . her mystil belief Love”—as if slammg an old iend’s book her home-town newspaper (N had lived L.A. for years) did anythg but show that love might be a eful thg to have around.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-4 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The N review was a classic stance of what Michael Mewshaw, his recent memoir “Sympathy for the Devil: Four Des of Friendship wh Gore Vidal” (Farrar, Strs & Giroux), lls “the chilly, unrg misanthrope portrayed by the prs.” The man he knew was eager to please and sensive to slights—and not always happy to show . His late memoirs, “Palimpst” (1995) and “Pot to Pot Navigatn” (2006), Mewshaw wr, “ntaed strikgly ltle trospectn, few tly timate revelatns . . . almost nothg about the people he mixed wh on a daily basis”—and no hts that Vidal “was genero, hospable, loyal to iends.”</p><p class="paywall">Reprisg N’s rponse to “The Cy and the Pillar” half a century earlier, Mewshaw spends a few pag scratchg his head over “Palimpst,” an acunt of Vidal’s first four s. He grew bored by Vidal’s prentatn of himself as “the yoga master of world-wears” and exprsed bafflement as to “why so many of the emotns I had wnsed him over the years had been leted om this draft of his life.” (Wrg about “Pot to Pot Navigatn,” Pari admir the way Vidal “rtras his emotns.”) Mewshaw rells readg “Palimpst” when he was livg London and Vidal was town on a promotnal tour, and notg the dispary between the book’s announcement of personal happs—“I am past all ser sire for anythg. . . . The Buddha was right: To want is to suffer”—and “the man who jt the night before at the Connght had dnk himself to the brk of unnscns.”</p><p class="paywall">In the openg pag of “Sympathy for the Devil,” Mewshaw exprs the hope that the noise around Vidal has died down enough to “allow for” an “alternative asssment.” So far, the evince seems mixed. In a five-hundred-word “lightng raid” that appeared on the <em>Vany Fair</em> Web se, Jam Woltt—the thor of “The Gore Supremacy,” a Kdle Sgle published after Vidal’s ath—objected to the offscreen, life-size figure Mewshaw’s book, pecially his “glassy-eyed, fallg-down senr moments.” Vidal shouldn’t be remembered that way, Woltt said. He was suave and smooth. He amed whout effort. He didn’t re what people thought—and he didn’t re who knew that he didn’t re what people thought. Woltt nsoled himself wh pickg out the “hilar aperç and asis” reunted the book, as when Vidal challenged Mewshaw to name the three sadst words the English language, and supplied the answer: Joyce Carol Oat. This is the image of Vidal that seems sted to endure: rtoonish, two-dimensnal, other than human. But, although Vidal ma “harsh cril remarks” about Oat at every opportuny, Pari explas, he once ught him readg a volume of her says, and—“he admted”—enjoyg them. ♦</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="vh1qbo"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM 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bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Page-Turner</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/books/page-turner/postscript-gore-vidal" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Postscript: Gore Vidal</div></a><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Hilton Als</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/books/page-turner/gore-vidals-tective-novels" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Gore Vidal’s Detective Novels" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Page-Turner</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/books/page-turner/gore-vidals-tective-novels" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Gore Vidal’s Detective Novels</div></a><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Seth Colter Walls</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Spectre of Andrew Cuomo Contu to Hnt New York" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Our Lol Corrponnts</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Spectre of Andrew Cuomo Contu to Hnt New York</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Spectre of Andrew Cuomo Contu to Hnt New York" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">The former ernor is out of office, fixated on gettg even, and loomg over state polics.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Eric Lach</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center 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