Friday, July 6, 2007

Vidal on Kerouac. Literally.

I’m reading Gore Vidal’s Palimpsest. What other writer can go from lunch with Princess Margaret in one chapter to casually remarking to Alan Ginsberg of Jack Kerouac, “I fucked him,” in the next?

This is Vidal on the Clintons, who were about to visit him in Italy in 1994:

"The Clintons are now under attack because they would improve a society that is a heaven for, perhaps, one tenth of the people and a hell, of varying degrees, for the rest. I doubt he will survive his first term. He will experience either the bullet or a sudden resignation, and cousin Albert, the Cromwell of Washington’s Fairfax Hotel, will be Lord Protector. Naturally I hope I am mistaken."

One page further on he has his father telling his mother: “I have three balls.” I can’t recommend it enough.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That book has been staring at me from the bookshelf and somehow I've never gotten around to open it. Will have to check it out now then.

James Whyle said...

Do. It's a fascinating read.