If Henry Miller often sounded like a village idiot, it is because, like Whitman, he was the rest of the village as well.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that Henry Miller's unique voice resonates with the commonality of human experience, much like Walt Whitman.
Gore Vidal's quote highlights the notion that great authors often embody the collective thoughts and emotions of their era. By comparing Henry Miller to a 'village idiot,' it suggests that his unconventional opinions and style reflect a deeper truth that resonates with the universal human experience, akin to Walt Whitman's profound connection to the common man. This suggests that the simplicity or eccentricity of their expressions may reveal essential truths about society and individuality.
In practice
In a discussion about the value of authenticity in literature, you can use this quote to emphasize the importance of expressing genuine thoughts.
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
Cold hopes swarm like worms within our living clay.
Drunkenness does not create vice; it merely brings it into view.
We try to organize the world, which isn't organized the way our brains want to organize it. We tell stories about the people in our lives, we project ideas onto them. We project relationships with people, we make our lives into stories. I don't think we can avoid doing that.
Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And forever.
There is no little sin, because no little God to sin against.
Memory never recaptures reality. Memory reconstructs. All reconstructions change the original, becoming external frames of reference that inevitably fall short.
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