Selected Essays of Gore Vidal (Vintage International) [Paperback]

Gore Vidal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 16, 2009 | Series: Vintage International

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 best-loved pieces of criticism, political commentary, memoir, portraiture, and, occasionally, unfettered score settling. 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.

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)
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Review

“Gore Vidal is the master essayist of our age.” —The Washington Post Book World“Vidal is the best all-around American man of letters since Edmund Wilson.” —Newsweek “Wonderfully selected. . . . All classic Vidal essays are here. . . . [They] confirm Vidal's stature.” —The Buffalo News“Gore Vidal, essayist; so good that we cannot do without him. He is a treasure of the state.” —R.W.B. Lewis, The New York Times Book Review“Fearlessness and independence of mind are the strengths in this author’s arms, but his heart’s love is language and the richness of language.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (June 16, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307388689
• ISBN-13: 978-0307388681
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #985,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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.

Customer Reviews

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, June 22, 2008

By 

Bicycle Day - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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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, September 14, 2009

By 

Stephen Harlen "friend of new orleans" (philly) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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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, October 20, 2009

By 

James P "jim" (Germany) - See all my reviews

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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.