[Oberon]

Okay...I'm about to confess something...I don't much care for Gore Vidal's politics nor his personal habits, but the man writes a darned fine novel.

I don't think they're particularly important texts culturally, but they are well-crafted.

[Borges]

He's probably the best essayist in English of the 2nd half of the 20th century.

[BlackElk]

Ummmmm, that Robert Mapplethorpe was probably a competent shutterbug but his choice of subject matter was EEEEEEE-EWWW like Vidal's private life.

Bill Buckley offered to punch Vidal out on live television on the ABC network during a national convention in 1968 or 1972 while making some colorful and graphic references (in the King's English) to Vidal's perversions.

You would not make Vidal part of the curriculum at your putatve school???? Right?