Gore Vidal, known for such best-sellers as "The City and the
Pillar," "Burr," "Lincoln," and "Myra Breckinridge," is a household
name. The controversial Vidal ran for Congress in 1960, and set
sparks flying with his public debates challenging William F.
Buckley and Norman Mailer. Although one of America's most admired
and prolific writers, Vidal has been steadfastly ignored or
impugned by many critics. This is partly owing to the vast scope of
his writings, which include more than twenty novels, half a dozen
plays, dozens of screenplays, countless essays and book reviews,
political commentary, and short stories; how do the critics
approach such a writer? There has also been backlash against Vidal,
whose radical polemics and undisguised contempt for those whom he
has called "the hacks and hicks of academe" have hardly endeared
him to the critical establishment. "Gore Vidal: Writer Against the
Grain" is the first collection of critical essays to approach this
important American writer in an attempt to rectify the unwarranted
underestimation of his work. Jay Parini has drawn from the best of
previously published criticism and commissioned fresh articles by
leading contemporary critics to construct a comprehensive portrait
of Vidal's multifaceted and memorable career. Writers as diverse as
Harold Bloom, Stephen Spender, Catharine R. Stimpson, Richard
Poirier, and Italo Calvino examine Vidal's work in their own highly
individual ways, and each finds a different Vidal to celebrate,
chide, recollect, or view close up. Also included is a recent
interview with Parini in which Vidal discusses his career and his
troubled relationship with the reviewers.The Vidal that finally
emerges from these essays is a writer of undeniable weight and
importance. As readers will agree, "Gore Vidal: Writer Against the
Grain" establishes his rightful role as one of the premier
novelists and leading critical observers of this century.
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