Gore Vidal
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Gore Vidal was an American writer who lived from 1925 to 2012 and became known for his novels, essays, and cultural commentary. He is considered an important figure in twentieth-century American literature for his sharp wit and his willingness to challenge conventional political and social ideas through his work.
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Person
- Born
- 1925-10-03
- Died
- 2012-07-31
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Writing · West Point, New York, USA
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (born Eugene Louis Vidal; October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the social and cultural sexual norms he perceived as driving American life. Beyond literature, Vidal was heavily involved in politics. He unsuccessfully sought office twice as a Democratic Party…
Known for
- Best of Enemies — Self2015
- Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open — Self2013
- Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia — Self2013
- Salinger — Self - Writer2013
- Valentino's Ghost — Self2013
- Wilde Salomé — Self2013
- Norman Mailer: The American — Self2012
- Public Speaking — Self (archive footage)2011
- The Strange History of Don't Ask, Don't Tell — Self2011
Works in European collections
22 objects attributed to Gore Vidal, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
Article
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (/vɪˈdɑːl/ vih-DAHL; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his cynical epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays criticized the social and sexual norms he perceived as driving American life. Vidal was heavily involved in politics, and unsuccessfully sought office twice as a Democratic Party candidate, first in 1960 to the United States House of Representatives (for New York), and later in 1982 to the United States Senate (for California).
A grandson of U.S. Senator Thomas Gore, Vidal was born into an upper-class political family. As a political commentator and essayist, Vidal's primary focus was the history and society of the United States, especially how a militaristic foreign policy reduced the country to a decadent empire. His political and cultural essays were published in The Nation, the New Statesman, the New York Review of Books, and Esquire magazines. As a public intellectual, Vidal's topical debates on sex, politics, and religion with other intellectuals and writers occasionally turned into quarrels with the likes of William F. Buckley Jr. and Norman Mailer.
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1925 births2012 deaths20th-century American dramatists and playwrights20th-century American essayists20th-century American journalists20th-century American male journalists20th-century American male writers20th-century American novelists20th-century American short story writers20th-century atheists20th-century pseudonymous writers21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
