Gore Vidal—novelist, playwright, critic, screenwriter, memoirist, indefatigable political commentator, and controversialist—is America's premier man of letters. No other living writer brings more sparkling wit, vast learning, indelible personality, and provocative mirth to the job of writing an essay. This long-needed volume comprises some twenty-four of his forays into criticism, reviewing, political commentary, memoir, portraiture, and, occasionally, unfettered score settling. Among them are such classics as "The Top Ten Best-Sellers," “Dawn Powell: The American Writer,” “Theodore Roosevelt: An American Sissy," "Pornography," and "The Second American Revolution.” Edited and introduced by Gore Vidal's literary executor, Jay Parini, it will stand as one of the most enjoyable and durable works from the hand and mind of this vastly accomplished and entertaining immortal of American literature.
The Selected Essays of Gore Vidal
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Vidal's daunting career has encompassed 24 novels, 11 essay collections, six plays, two memoirs and countless occasional writings. This new collection is an entry point into this literary giant's work for a new generation of readers, offering some of Vidal's most famous and entertaining essays from the past 50-odd years. Compiled and introduced by Parini (The Last Station), Vidal's literary executor, the pieces range across Vidal's far-flung areas of expertise, resting most frequently and contentiously on literature and presidential politics of the past and present. His assessment of The Top Ten Bestsellers of January 7, 1973, is a savagely meticulous dissection of middlebrow American taste, while American Plastic tacks in the opposite direction, skewering the academy-approved, theory-based fiction of Donald Barthelme and William Gass with derisive glee. Vidal's comfort in puncturing conventional wisdom with his wit and analysis is fully displayed throughout, most notably in his discussion of the battle over the Kennedy legacy in The Holy Family and the controversial Black Tuesday, which condemns the Bush administration for its alleged imperial ambitions in the wake of September 11. (June 17)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"In 114 essays written over a period of forty years, Gore Vidal has shown himself to be a masterly, learned, and percipient observer of an unparalleled range of subjects. United States: Essays, 1952–1992 assesses such diverse matters as modern French fiction, the Kennedys, underappreciated writers like Thomas Love Peacock, and the American attitude toward sex. He writes tenderly of authors and people he cherishes—Eleanor Roosevelt, Tennessee Williams, William Dean Howells. Whatever his subject, he addresses it with an artist's resonant appreciation, a scholar's conscience, and the persuasive powers of a great essayist."—Citation for the 1993 National Book Award
“Vidal is the best all-around American man of letters since Edmund Wilson.” —Newsweek
“Gore Vidal, essayist; so good that we cannot do without him. He is a treasure of the state.”—R.W.B. Lewis, New York Times Book Review
“Gore Vidal is the master essayist of our age, and we should thank the gods that we still have him to kick us around. Long may he flourish.”—Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World
“The century’s finest essayist.”—Jonathan Keates, The Spectator
“Indispensable . . . An excellent read . . . Provocateur, scholar, historian, novelist, scoundrel, whatever you want to call Gore Vidal, make sure you include ‘national treasure’ . . . [He] is an original mind, who thinks and sees without regard to convention. That alone makes him required reading.” —Sunday Oregonian
“Vidal has always had title to being among the most fluently entertaining of American essayists. I think it can now be seen that he is among the most substantial . . . There is often room to disagree with Vidal. But there is no room at all for denying that he is a superlative essayist, whose elegant concision is a gage thrown down to everyone else in the field.”—Clive James, The Observer
“Some of the most courageous, liveliest, and wittiest commentary on literature, the theater and social life that has been written in America.”—Philip Rahv
“The American tradition of independent and curious learning is kept alive in the wit and great expressiveness of Gore Vidal’s criticism.”—National Book Critics Circle for The Second American Revolution
“Gore Vidal is that rare thing, a wit who thinks in paragraphs.” —Kenneth Tynan
“Vidal is the best all-around American man of letters since Edmund Wilson.” —Newsweek
“Gore Vidal, essayist; so good that we cannot do without him. He is a treasure of the state.”—R.W.B. Lewis, New York Times Book Review
“Gore Vidal is the master essayist of our age, and we should thank the gods that we still have him to kick us around. Long may he flourish.”—Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World
“The century’s finest essayist.”—Jonathan Keates, The Spectator
“Indispensable . . . An excellent read . . . Provocateur, scholar, historian, novelist, scoundrel, whatever you want to call Gore Vidal, make sure you include ‘national treasure’ . . . [He] is an original mind, who thinks and sees without regard to convention. That alone makes him required reading.” —Sunday Oregonian
“Vidal has always had title to being among the most fluently entertaining of American essayists. I think it can now be seen that he is among the most substantial . . . There is often room to disagree with Vidal. But there is no room at all for denying that he is a superlative essayist, whose elegant concision is a gage thrown down to everyone else in the field.”—Clive James, The Observer
“Some of the most courageous, liveliest, and wittiest commentary on literature, the theater and social life that has been written in America.”—Philip Rahv
“The American tradition of independent and curious learning is kept alive in the wit and great expressiveness of Gore Vidal’s criticism.”—National Book Critics Circle for The Second American Revolution
“Gore Vidal is that rare thing, a wit who thinks in paragraphs.” —Kenneth Tynan
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More About the Author
Gore Vidal has received the National Book Award, written numerous novels, short stories, plays and essays. He has been a political activist and as Democratic candidate for Congress from upstate New York, he received the most votes of any Democrat in a half-century.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very Puzzling, Though New Readers May Enjoy,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Selected Essays of Gore Vidal (Hardcover)
It all comes down to what you want and what you have read.
For those who are exploring the vast depth of essays penned by Gore Vidal, this volume - edited by Jay Parini - is a nice primer. But 21 of the 24 selections appeared in the 1993 Random House collection, United States: Essays 1952-1992, with a pair of recent political essays - Black Tuesday (2001) and State of the Union, 2004 (2004) - easily found in other settings. Ultimately, this is a very puzzling release and what appears to be a slick means to reissue what Parini feels is the best material from a massive volume - 114 pieces - published 15 years ago.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vidal over the years,
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This review is from: Selected Essays of Gore Vidal (Vintage International) (Paperback)
As may be expected somewhat uneven essays by Gore spanning decades . He is always entertaining and frequently quite erudite but he is much too harsh on John Updike and the Kennedys. Here's hoping he lives on for many more years and books.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vintage Vidal,
By James P "jim" (Germany) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Selected Essays of Gore Vidal (Vintage International) (Paperback)
Vidal is an American treasure and a patriot in the best sense of the word.
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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national security state, sky godders, same sexers, same sex sex Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, New York, Robbe Grillet, Art Novel, Supreme Court, Property Party, New Novel, Forces Involved, White House, Dawn Powell, Bill of Rights, Miss Sarraute, Henry James, Theodore Roosevelt, Edmund Wilson, Don Ippolito, Miss Sontag, The Party, Wise Hack, House of Representatives, Roland Barthes, Professor Halperin, Franklin Roosevelt, World War, Tennessee Williams Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Surprise Me!
national security state, sky godders, same sexers, same sex sex Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, New York, Robbe Grillet, Art Novel, Supreme Court, Property Party, New Novel, Forces Involved, White House, Dawn Powell, Bill of Rights, Miss Sarraute, Henry James, Theodore Roosevelt, Edmund Wilson, Don Ippolito, Miss Sontag, The Party, Wise Hack, House of Representatives, Roland Barthes, Professor Halperin, Franklin Roosevelt, World War, Tennessee Williams Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Surprise Me!
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