There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise
Being an avowed atheist, a form of words appropriate to death has always eluded me: “rest in peace” has always seemed inappropriate, implying – as it does – that something is left after death that could be at rest or otherwise. In similar vein, it has always struck me as terribly unfortunate that the one person who will never be aware of an obituary is the deceased; Alfred Nobel being a notable and salutary exception.
Gore Vidal’s novels The City and the Pillar, Myra Breckinridge, Julian, Messiah and Burr are amongst the most wonderful I have ever read. That there will be no more makes me very sad indeed.
An unheard farewell will have to do.
Gore Vidal, 1925 – 2012 (photo by Carl van Vechten, 1948)
