Contents
Gore Vidal
Writing sharp political essays and novels that re-examined American history, power and sexuality.
The City and the Pillar · Burr
- Born
- 3 October 1925
- Birthplace
- West Point, New York, USA
- Died
- 31 July 2012
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Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal combined historical fiction with satire, screenwriting and public argument. He questioned the stories America told about itself, becoming almost as recognisable for his televised debates as for his books.
Early life
Politics close at hand
Born into a politically connected family, Vidal spent part of his childhood around his grandfather, senator Thomas Gore.
War before university
After Phillips Exeter Academy, he entered the US Army during the Second World War. Military experience informed his first novel.
Career
- 1946–1948
Early novels
Williwaw introduced him as a novelist; The City and the Pillar challenged conventional depictions of gay life.
- 1950s–1960s
Stage and screen
Television drama, screenwriting and The Best Man expanded his audience alongside fiction.
- 1960s–1980s
History as argument
Julian, Burr and Lincoln used individual lives to revisit political power and national myths.
- 1993–1995
Essays and recollection
United States collected decades of essays; Palimpsest turned to the construction of his own memories.
Selected work
The City and the Pillar
A young man’s desire and disappointment are treated outside the usual moralising conventions of the period.
Burr
A fictional memoir gives the controversial American founder a voice in retelling the republic’s origins.
Lincoln
The presidency is observed through competing perspectives during the American Civil War.
Beyond work
A candidate himself
He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1960 and for a Senate nomination in 1982.
A life between countries
Vidal shared much of his adult life with Howard Austen, living in both Italy and the United States.
Sources & photo credit
Life and career ↗Institutional or specialist reference ↗Photo: Carl Van Vechten. Public domain · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
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