Conversations with Gore Vidal (Literary Conversations Series) (Hardcover)

~ Richard Peabody (Editor), Lucinda Ebersole (Editor)
Key Phrases: war novelist, national security state, Gore Vidal, New York, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There is not one human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise." - Gore Vidal" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

Almost sixty years ago, Gore Vidal burst onto the literary landscape with his World War II novel Williwaw. He never looked back. To date he has published twenty-nine novels, one short story collection, six theatrical plays, and numerous books of nonfiction. His novel The City and the Pillar was a groundbreaking work in the history of homosexual literature. In Myra Breckinridge Vidal created a ribald parody of sexual morality and identity. In 1967 Vidal published Washington, D.C. It would be the first of seven novels that have come to be known as the American Chronicles, a sprawling history of the empire filled with a cast of the most significant social, literary, and political figures of the United States.

Conversations with Gore Vidal features provocative and intriguing interviews with one of America's most prolific authors. Vidal was an enfant terrible in the 1940s and a marginalized homosexual in the 1950s. As Edgar Box he wrote mysteries, and as a screenwriter he penned the script for Ben-Hur. In 1960 he ran for Congress. In the 1990s, he appeared in films such as Gattaca, Bob Roberts, and Shadow Conspiracy. His essay collection United States: Essays 1952-1992, which features 114 pieces on everything from Howard Hughes to French literature, won the National Book Award.

Vidal proves himself here to be a witty, acerbic, cantankerous conversationalist, one who is willing to-and often eager to-defy conventional wisdom and lacerate the tired clichés inherent in both politics and literature. A defiant political insider who is related to both the Gores and the Kennedys, he is a proud Leftist who nevertheless does not hesitate to slash at party orthodoxy when he deems it necessary.

Richard Peabody and Lucinda Ebersole are the editors of the literary journal Gargoyle, based in Washington, D.C.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 196 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (February 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578066727
• ISBN-13: 978-1578066728
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,408,456 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Conversations with the Master, March 22, 2005

By	Frank R. Moliterno (Mount Vernon, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Conversations with Gore Vidal (Literary Conversations Series) (Paperback)

In 11 interviews from 1960 to 2003, Vidal talks about sex, religion, the movies, politics, literature--in short, everything that makes life interesting. Lots of gems scattered throughout. Vidal is America's greatest living man of letters. Not since Edmund Wilson have we had such a great critic, and the two of them along with H.L. Mencken comprise the three great public intellectuals of 20th-century America. Hear America's greatest public intellectual talk in this new volume. The only disappointment you'll feel is when the conversation runs out at the end.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Collection, July 17, 2006

By	Robert J. Kizer "obscure data" (Hollywood, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Conversations with Gore Vidal (Literary Conversations Series) (Paperback)

Gore Vidal is one of America's wittiest and intelligent commentators (besides a first class novelist and essayist). This collection of interviews given between the years 1960 and 2003 are presented chronologically which allows the reader to watch how Vidal's views and opinions develop and shift. Being a collection of interviews many of the anecdotes get to be a bit repetitious. Other than that, the collection covers a wide range of subjects -- American history, the craft of writing, the state of literature, television, movies, and politics of all kinds. And all subjects, Gore Vidal gives a lot of food for thought.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gore scores again, July 13, 2006

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

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This review is from: Conversations with Gore Vidal (Literary Conversations Series) (Paperback)

As always, Gore Vidal is direct,honest and penetrating in his perceptions of the American and human cultural experience. Who do we have to fill this gap when he is gone?