The Selected Essays of Gore Vidal (Hardcover)

by Gore Vidal (Author), Jay Parini (Editor)
Key Phrases: national security state, sky godders, same sexers, United States, New York, Robbe Grillet (more...)

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
"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 ... --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (June 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385524846
• ISBN-13: 978-0385524841
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #563,826 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very Puzzling, Though New Readers May Enjoy, June 22, 2008

By	Mr. Richard D. Coreno "Mr. C" (Berea, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.