Gore Vidal: A Critical Companion

(Hardback)

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Gore Vidal has been entertaining - and occasionally outraging - the American public for 50 years. In the course of his long career, Vidal has set new intellectual and artistic standards for American historical fiction and has also established himself in the first rank of contemporary social satirists. This study includes Vidal's most recent novels and has been designed to meet the needs of both general readers and students of contemporary literature. It includes discussions of "Lincoln", "Empire", "Hollywood", and "Live From Golgotha", as well as his earlier novels. The book shows that while Vidal's books are entertaining, they are also serious examinations of a recurring theme - the decline of the West in general and the decline of the United States in particular. A biographical sketch of the writer precedes a general discussion of Vidal's early novels. Each of the following chapters examines an individual novel, from "Julian" (1964) to "Live From Golgotha" (1992), with special emphasis on artistic development, and historical and intellectual context. To help the reader understand the recurring themes in Vidal's fictions, the book groups the novels by type. First are the historical fictions, those of the ancient world ("Julian", "Creation") and the "American Chronicles", Vidal's family saga of the United States over the course of its history. Second are the social satires, what Vidal calls his "inventions", of which the best known is "Myra Breckinridge". The discussion of each novel includes sections on plot and character development, thematic issues, narrative style, and an alternative critical approach from which to read the novel. A complete bibliography of Vidal's fiction, select bibliography of his other works, and bibliography of reviews and criticism of the works examined complete the book and will be of use to students, librarians, and adult book discussion participants.

Author Bio

SUSAN BAKER is Professor of English at the University of Nevada in Reno. She is coeditor (with Dorothea Kehler) of In Another Country: Feminist Perspectives on Renaissance Drama (1991) and is completing a book-length study of Shakespeare in detective fiction. CURTIS S. GIBSON, her husband, is a nonacademic enthusiast of Gore Vidal's work. Both Baker and Gibson have essays forthcoming in St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers (4th Edition).