gore vidal

Details scored an interview with Gore Vidal that's gaining traction... because of a spate between Arianna Huffington and Bill Keller.

The Huffington Post, which is engaged in a tit a tat with The New York Times, didn't waste any time excerpting some of the choice phrases Vidal's used when discussing the Paper of Record's reaction to his third book, The City and the Pillar.

"The New York Times was always hysterical about sex of any kind, and Orville Prescott, then the principal book reviewer, said that under no circumstances would any book written by Gore Vidal be reviewed there again. Ever ...not to be mentioned in The New York Times is, I have always thought, a point of honor. So I survived and I notice that The New York Times did not. They can't get any advertising, and I chuckle over that as much as possible."

Unfortunately, the HuffPo missed Vidal's best shot at the Gray Lady.

"Well, you see I'm something -- it's a grown-up word I am going to use, so I hope your readers will understand me -- I'm a critic. And they have never seen a critic before. All you're supposed to do is praise your little group, whoever they may be. You're allowed to do that up to a point, but don't overdo it, you know. Otherwise, you'll sound like the New York Times looking after its own. You have to be careful."