A Thirsty Evil.

Just thought I would write a few words about a truly great collection of short stories I have just finished reading, especially since yesterday was the birthday of the author.
Gore Vidal was born Eugene Luther Gore Vidal Jr., on October 3rd, 1925, at West Point, New York. His first novel, Williwaw, was published when he was still a mere twenty years old (1946). I will not go on a real biographical tour here, but suffice it to say that Vidal went on to write at least 24 novels (as of the year 2000, my research may be shaky)..... many many plays, HUNDREDS of essays, mostly based on political themes. In short, the guy has written a ton of stuff.
Amazingly, this little book called A Thirsty Evil (1956) is his only published collection of short stories.
A friend sent me this book, mostly with the intention that I read one of the stories, called The Robin. It is about two boys that decide it is their responsibility to kill a wounded robin. To put it out of its misery. What they end up doing is.... well, putting it in a lot MORE misery, as can be the case, when we are trying to help something else along the road to its own death. It is sad to say that a very similar experience happened to me (yes, it was a robin) when I myself was but a kid, and in my case, the situation was even worse, because I was the cause of the bird’s wounding in the first place. My friend knew this. And so she sent me the book, perhaps that I may yet atone for my sins, or.... just feel worse about them. Or have nightmares, wherein gigantic robins peck me to death. [Actually, I know it was for none of these very valid reasons, but rather to expose me to the wonderful prose style of this amazing writer.]
Truly the story was exquisite.
So I went on and read them all. Usually, in a book of short stories, one or two stories will be good, and the rest will be just terrible. Or maybe they will ALL be terrible. But seldom are they all good. And what I found with these stories by Gore Vidal, is that they were all good!
Many of the stories were about gayness and/or being gay, and I am not gay. None of them were what I would call blatantly gay (especially the robin one, hardly any gayness at all) and, for instance, in what was probably my favorite story (The Zenner Trophy) two boys are being expelled from school because of being “found out” as it were, however, this is never really said in the story. You just know that this is the reason. Extremely subtle.
None of the stories were graphically gay, yet the majority of them dealt with homosexual-ish themes that I think are just as relevant to ponder and read about as are any other themes one might consider. I guess what I am saying is that this stuff is incredibly great literature that would appeal to anyone who is gay, as well as anyone who is (like me) not gay.
Or anyone in between, if there is such a place.... and Gore Vidal seems to think that there very much is. In reading about him, I have found that he (Vidal) never accepted the label of "homosexual writer". In his essay 'Pink triangle and yellow star' (1981) he wrote: "The American passion for categorizing has now managed to create two nonexistent categories - gay and straight. Either you are one or you are the other. But since everyone is a mixture of inclinations, the categories keep breaking down, the irrational takes over."
Hmmmm.... so far, my own inclinations have been very, umm.... unmixed.
But perhaps there is something to be said for his words here..... and now now now.... please refrain from writing me back and telling me that perhaps my love for this book is sign enough that the winds of change are a' blowing across the hetero-bookpuddle tonight!
See? You were already clicking the comment button and going to say something weren’t you? I adjure you... do not let the "irrational" take over.
Go get this book. Straight or queer or undecided, you should really read it.
And no, you cannot borrow my copy because I know I will never get it back.

From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty:
As surfeit is the father of much fast,
So every scope by the immoderate use
Turns to restraint. Our natures do pursue,
Like rats that ravin down their proper bane,
A thirsty evil, and when we drink we die.

Claudio, in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.
______________