Gore Vidal (October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012)

Gore Vidal (October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012), the author who adapted Friedrich Durrenmatt’s play "Romulus der Grosse" for an English-speaking audience, may be familiar to many of our ‘older’ friends at Memorial, but might not ring a bell among our younger audiences. Wikipedia calls him “an American writer (of novels, essays, screenplays, and stage plays) and a public intellectual known for his patrician manner, epigrammatic wit, and polished style of writing.” The site also states that Vidal's principal subject was the history of the United States and its society, especially how the militaristic foreign policy of the National Security State reduced the country to decadent empire. Hmm – this is already sounding familiar.

Author of several books and screenplays, he was also known as an outspoken public intellectual who identified with liberal politicians and the progressive social causes of the Democratic party. He publicly feuded with the conservative William F. Buckley, the novelists Truman Capote and Norman Mailer, and offended many with his male chauvinistic remarks in the Polanski rape case. Still many continue to admire his prolific and elegant writings.