Editing Gore Vidal (section)

==Literary career==
Vidal's literary works were influenced by numerous other writers, poets and playwrights, novelists and essayists. These include, from antiquity, [[Petronius]] (d. AD 66), [[Juvenal]] (AD 60–140), and [[Apuleius]] ([[fl.]] c. AD 155); and from the post-Renaissance, [[Michel de Montaigne]] (1533–1592), [[Thomas Love Peacock]] (1785–1866), and [[George Meredith]] (1828–1909). More recent literary influences included [[Marcel Proust]] (1871–1922), [[Henry James]] (1843–1916), and [[Evelyn Waugh]] (1903–1966).<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3917/the-art-of-fiction-no-50-gore-vidal|title=Paris Review – The Art of Fiction No. 50, Gore Vidal|magazine=[[The Paris Review]]|year=1974|volume=Fall 1974|issue=59|access-date=November 29, 2010|archive-date=October 28, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101028143626/http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3917/the-art-of-fiction-no-50-gore-vidal|url-status=live|last1=Clarke|first1=Interviewed by Gerald}}</ref> The cultural critic [[Harold Bloom]] has written that Vidal believed that his sexuality had denied him full recognition from the literary community in the United States. Bloom himself contends that such limited recognition resulted more from Vidal's "best fictions" being "distinguished historical novels", a subgenre "no longer available for canonization".<ref name="Bloom1994">{{cite book|last=Bloom|first=Harold|title=The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_-QzKinSsz0C|access-date=August 1, 2012|year=1994|publisher=Riverhead Books|isbn=978-1-57322-514-4|page=21|archive-date=September 19, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919025924/https://books.google.com/books?id=_-QzKinSsz0C|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Fiction===
[[File:GoreVidal2008.jpg|thumb|Vidal at the [[Los Angeles Times Festival of Books]], 2008]]

Vidal's literary career began with the success of the [[military novel]] [[Williwaw (Vidal novel)|''Williwaw'']], a men-at-war story derived from his [[Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and Fort Mears, U.S. Army|Alaskan Harbor Detachment]] duty during the Second World War.<ref>Vidal, Gore. ''The City and the Pillar and Seven Early Stories'' (NY: Random House), p. xiii.</ref> His third novel, ''[[The City and the Pillar]]'' (1948), caused a moralistic furor over his dispassionate presentation of a young protagonist coming to terms with his homosexuality.<ref name=Freethinker0812/> The novel was dedicated to "J. T."; decades later, Vidal confirmed that the initials were those of his boyhood friend and St. Albans classmate, James Trimble III, killed in the [[Battle of Iwo Jima]] on March 1, 1945, and that Trimble was the only person he ever loved.<ref name="ESPN-14-mar-2002">Roberts, James. "[https://www.espn.com/espn/print?id=1351570&type=page2Story The Legacy of Jimmy Trimble] ", ESPN, March 14, 2002.</ref><ref name="Independent-25-may-2008">Chalmers, Robert. "[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/gore-vidal-literary-feuds-his-vicious-mother-and-rumours-of-a-secret-love-child-832525.html Gore Vidal: Literary feuds, his 'vicious' mother and rumours of a secret love child] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614230531/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/gore-vidal-literary-feuds-his-vicious-mother-and-rumours-of-a-secret-love-child-832525.html |date=June 14, 2012 }}", ''The Independent'', May 25, 2008.</ref> Critics railed against Vidal's presentation of homosexuality in the novel as natural, as it was viewed generally at the time as unnatural and immoral.<ref name=Freethinker0812/> Vidal claimed that ''New York Times'' critic [[Orville Prescott]] was so offended by the book that he refused to review or to permit other critics to review any book by Vidal.<ref>Vidal, Gore. ''Point to Point Navigation'' (New York: Doubleday, 2006), 245</ref> Vidal said that upon publication of the book, an editor at [[E. P. Dutton]] told him "You will never be forgiven for this book. Twenty years from now, you will still be attacked for it."<ref name=Freethinker0812/> Today, Vidal is often seen as an early champion of [[sexual liberation]].<ref>[http://www.consulfrance-losangeles.org/spip.php?article547 Décoration de l'écrivain Gore Vidal].{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013002425/http://www.consulfrance-losangeles.org/spip.php?article547 |date=October 13, 2008 }}</ref>

Vidal took the pseudonym "Edgar Box" and wrote the mystery novels ''Death in the Fifth Position'' (1952), ''Death before Bedtime'' (1953) and ''Death Likes it Hot'' (1954) featuring Peter Cutler Sargeant II, a publicist-turned-private-eye. His satirical novel ''[[Messiah (Vidal novel)|Messiah]]'', detailing the rise of a new [[nontheistic religion]] that comes to largely replace the [[Abrahamic faiths]], was also published in 1954. The Edgar Box genre novels sold well and earned the blacklisted Vidal a secret living.<ref>''The Boston Globe'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20111127004526/http://articles.boston.com/2011-03-25/ae/29352611_1_novels-mysteries-paperback Diane White, "Murder, He Wrote, Before Becoming a Man of Letters", 25 March 2011]. Retrieved July 11, 2011 </ref><ref>Vidal, Gore. "Introduction to ''Death in the Fifth Position''{{-"}}, in Edgar Box, ''Death in the Fifth Position'' (Vintage, 2011), pp. 5–6.</ref> That mystery-novel success led Vidal to write in other genres, where he produced the stage play ''[[The Best Man (play)|The Best Man: A Play about Politics]]'' (1960) and the television play ''[[Visit to a Small Planet]]'' (1957). Two early teleplays were ''A Sense of Justice'' (1955) and ''Honor''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Philco Television Playhouse: A Sense of Justice (TV)|url=http://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?q=Goodyear+Television+Playhouse&p=1&item=T:40573|work=The Paley Center for Media|access-date=January 1, 2013|archive-date=August 26, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826181908/http://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?q=Goodyear+Television+Playhouse&p=1&item=T:40573|url-status=live}}</ref> He also wrote the pulp novel ''Thieves Fall Out'' under the pseudonym Cameron Kay but refused to have it reprinted under his real name during his life.<ref name="thieves">{{Citation|last= Bayard|first= Louis|title= Review: Gore Vidal's 'Thieves Fall Out', Where Pulp Fiction and Hard Reality Met|work= [[The New York Times]]|date= April 12, 2015|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/13/books/review-gore-vidals-thieves-fall-out-where-pulp-fiction-and-hard-reality-met.html|access-date= April 12, 2015|archive-date= April 13, 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150413035059/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/13/books/review-gore-vidals-thieves-fall-out-where-pulp-fiction-and-hard-reality-met.html|url-status= live}}</ref>

In the 1960s, Vidal published [[Julian (novel)|''Julian'']] (1964), about the Roman Emperor [[Julian the Apostate]] (r. A.D. 361–363), who sought to reinstate [[polytheism|polytheistic paganism]] when Julian viewed that Christianity threatened the cultural integrity of the Roman Empire; [[Washington, D.C. (novel)|''Washington, D.C.'']] (1967), about political life during the presidential era of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] (1933–1945); and ''[[Myra Breckinridge]]'' (1968), a satire of the American movie business, by way of a school of dramatic arts owned by a [[transsexual]] woman, the eponymous anti-heroine.

After publishing the plays [[Weekend (play)|''Weekend'']] (1968) and ''[[An Evening With Richard Nixon]]'' (1972) and the novel ''Two Sisters: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir'' (1970), Vidal concentrated upon the essay and developed two types of fiction. The first type is about American history, novels specifically about the nature of national politics.<ref name="NYTimes -7-jul-1970">{{cite news|author=Leonard, John|author-link=John Leonard (critic)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/home/vidal-sisters.html|title=Not Enough Blood, Not Enough Gore|work=The New York Times|date=July 7, 1970|access-date=October 30, 2008|archive-date=April 10, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410073540/http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/home/vidal-sisters.html|url-status=live}}</ref> ''The New York Times'', quoting critic Harold Bloom about those historical novels, said that "Vidal's imagination of American politics is so powerful as to compel awe."<ref name=NYTobit /> The historical novels formed the seven-book series [[Narratives of Empire]]: (i) ''[[Burr (novel)|Burr]]'' (1973), (ii) ''[[Lincoln (novel)|Lincoln]]'' (1984), (iii) ''[[1876 (novel)|1876]]'' (1976), (iv) ''[[Empire (Vidal novel)|Empire]]'' (1987), (v) ''[[Hollywood (Vidal novel)|Hollywood]]'' (1990), (vi) ''Washington, D.C.'' (1967), and (vii) ''[[The Golden Age (Gore Vidal novel)|The Golden Age]]'' (2000). Besides U.S. history, Vidal also explored and analyzed the history of the ancient world, specifically the [[Axial Age]] (800–200 B.C.), with the novel ''[[Creation (novel)|Creation]]'' (1981). The novel was published without four chapters that were part of the manuscript he submitted to the publisher; years later, Vidal restored the chapters to the text and republished the novel ''Creation'' in 2002.

The second type of fiction is the topical satire, such as ''[[Myron (novel)|Myron]]'' (1974), the sequel to ''Myra Breckinridge''; ''[[Kalki (novel)|Kalki]]'' (1978), about the end of the world and the consequent ennui; ''[[Duluth (novel)|Duluth]]'' (1983), an [[Parallel universe (fiction)|alternate universe]] story; ''[[Live from Golgotha]]'' (1992), about the adventures of Timothy, Bishop of Macedonia, in the early days of Christianity; and ''[[Smithsonian Institution (novel)|The Smithsonian Institution]]'' (1998), a time-travel story.

===Nonfiction===
[[File:1876Novel.jpg|thumb|upright|Vidal's historical novel ''[[1876 (novel)|1876]]'' (1976)]]
In the United States, Vidal is often considered an essayist rather than a novelist.<ref>{{cite news |first=Deborah |last=Solomon |title=Literary Lion |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/magazine/15wwln-Q4-t.html?ref=magazine |work=The New York Times Magazine |date=June 15, 2008 |access-date=June 29, 2008 |archive-date=December 10, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210225213/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/magazine/15wwln-Q4-t.html?ref=magazine |url-status=live }}</ref> Even the occasionally hostile literary critic, such as [[Martin Amis]], admitted that "Essays are what he is good at ... [Vidal] is learned, funny, and exceptionally clear-sighted. Even his blind spots are illuminating."

For six decades, Vidal applied himself to socio-political, sexual, historical and literary subjects. In the essay anthology ''Armageddon'' (1987) he explored the intricacies of power (political and cultural) in the contemporary United States. His criticism of the incumbent U.S. president, [[Ronald Reagan]], as a "triumph of the embalmer's art" communicated that Reagan's provincial worldview, and that of his administration's, was out of date and inadequate to the geopolitical realities of the world in the late twentieth century. In 1993, Vidal won the [[National Book Award for Nonfiction]] for the anthology ''United States: Essays 1952–92'' (1993).<ref name=nba1993>[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1993 "National Book Awards&nbsp;– 1993"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181029015053/http://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1993/ |date=October 29, 2018 }}. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved 2012-03-12.<br />(With acceptance speech by Vidal, read by Harry Evans.)</ref>

In 2000, Vidal published the collection of essays ''The Last Empire'', then such self-described "pamphlets" as ''Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace'', ''Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta'' and ''Imperial America'', critiques of American expansionism, the [[military–industrial complex]], the national security state and the [[George W. Bush administration]]. Vidal also wrote a historical essay about the [[Founding Fathers]], ''Inventing a Nation''. In 1995, he published a memoir, ''Palimpsest'', and in 2006 its follow-up volume, ''Point to Point Navigation''. Earlier that year, Vidal had published ''Clouds and Eclipses: The Collected Short Stories''.

In 2009, Vidal won the [[National Book Award#Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters|Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters]] from the [[National Book Foundation]], which called him a "prominent social critic on politics, history, literature and culture".<ref name=medal>[http://www.nationalbook.org/amerletters.html "Distinguished Contribution to American Letters"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310053959/http://www.nationalbook.org/amerletters.html |date=March 10, 2011 }}. National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-11.<br />(With acceptance speech by Vidal and official blurb.)</ref><!-- the blurb is substantially lacking as an award citation; contrast Joan Didion 2007; nor does NBF publish anyone's introduction of Vidal -->
In the same year, the Man of Letters Gore Vidal was named honorary president of the [[American Humanist Association]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atheists.org/gore-vidal-death-legend |title=Gore Vidal: The Death of a Legend &#124; American Atheists |publisher=Atheists.org |date=August 1, 2012 |access-date=August 5, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804052134/http://www.atheists.org/gore-vidal-death-legend |archive-date=August 4, 2012}}</ref><!-- dead link --><ref name=Freethinker0812>{{cite web|last=Duke|first=Barry|url=http://freethinker.co.uk/2012/08/01/farewell-gore-vidal-gay-atheist-extraordinary/|title=Farewell Gore Vidal, Gay Atheist Extraordinary|publisher=Freethinker.co.uk|date=August 1, 2012|access-date=December 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108041016/http://freethinker.co.uk/2012/08/01/farewell-gore-vidal-gay-atheist-extraordinary/|archive-date=January 8, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Hollywood===
[[File:Broogoldvidawild.jpg|thumb|upright|Vidal (second from right) supporting the [[1981 Writers Guild of America strike]]]]
In 1956, [[MGM]] hired Vidal as a screenwriter with a four-year employment contract. In 1958, the director [[William Wyler]] required a [[script doctor]] to rewrite the screenplay for [[Ben-Hur (1959 film)|''Ben-Hur'']] (1959), originally written by [[Karl Tunberg]]. As one of several script doctors assigned to the project, Vidal rewrote significant portions of the script to resolve ambiguities of character motivation, specifically to clarify the enmity between the Jewish protagonist, Judah Ben-Hur, and the Roman antagonist, Messala, who had been close boyhood friends. In exchange for rewriting the ''Ben-Hur'' screenplay, on location in Italy, Vidal negotiated the early termination (at the two-year mark) of his four-year contract with MGM.<ref name="Palimpsest-1995" />{{RP|301–307}}

36 years later, in the documentary film ''[[The Celluloid Closet (film)|The Celluloid Closet]]'' (1995), Vidal explained that Messala's failed attempt at resuming their homosexual, boyhood relationship motivated the ostensibly political enmity between Ben-Hur ([[Charlton Heston]]) and Messala ([[Stephen Boyd]]). Vidal said that Boyd was aware of the homosexual subtext to the scene and that the director, the producer and the screenwriter agreed to keep Heston ignorant of the subtext, lest he refuse to play the scene.<ref name="Palimpsest-1995" />{{RP|306}} In turn, on learning of that explanation, Heston said that Vidal had contributed little to the script of ''Ben-Hur''.<ref>{{cite news |title=A Commanding Presence: Actor Charlton Heston Sets His Epic Career in Stone – or At Least on Paper |author=Mick LaSalle |newspaper=The San Francisco Chronicle |date=October 2, 1995 |page=E1}}</ref> Despite Vidal's resolution of the character's motivations, the [[Screen Writers Guild]] assigned formal screenwriter-credit to Karl Tunberg, in accordance with the [[WGA screenwriting credit system]], which favored the "original author" of a screenplay, rather than the writer of the filmed screenplay.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gore Vidal, Aloof in Art and Life |author=Ned Rorem |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=December 12, 1999 |page=18S}}</ref>

Two plays, ''The Best Man: A Play about Politics'' (1960, made into a [[The Best Man (1964 film)|film]] in 1964) and ''Visit to a Small Planet'' (1955), were theater and movie successes. Vidal occasionally returned to the movie business, and wrote historically accurate teleplays and screenplays about subjects important to him. [[Billy the Kid (1989 film)|''Billy the Kid'']] (1989) is one, about [[William H. Bonney]], a gunman in the New Mexico territory [[Lincoln County War]] (1878), and later an outlaw in the U.S. Western frontier. Another is 1979's [[Caligula (film)|''Caligula'']] (based upon the life of the [[Roman Emperor]] [[Caligula]]),<ref name="Time-3-jan-1977">"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947822,00.html Show Business: Will the Real Caligula Stand Up?]" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101022172027/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947822,00.html |date=October 22, 2010 }}, ''Time'', January 3, 1977.</ref> from which Vidal had his screenwriter credit removed because the producer, [[Bob Guccione]], the director, [[Tinto Brass]], and the leading actor, [[Malcolm McDowell]], rewrote the script to add extra sex and violence to increase its commercial appeal.

In the 1960s, Vidal migrated to Italy, where he befriended the film director [[Federico Fellini]], for whom he appeared in a cameo role in the film ''[[Roma (1972 film)|Roma]]'' (1972). He also appeared in the American television series ''[[Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman]]'' and in the films ''[[Bob Roberts]]'' (1992), a serio-comedy about a [[reactionary]] populist politician who manipulates youth culture to win votes; ''[[With Honors (film)|With Honors]]'' (1994), an [[Ivy league]] comedy-drama; ''[[Gattaca]]'' (1997), a science-fiction drama about [[genetic engineering]]; and ''[[Igby Goes Down]]'' (2002), a coming-of-age serio-comedy directed by his nephew, Burr Steers.