Matters of Fact and of Fiction

by Gore Vidal

The outspoken novelist and critic trains his sometimes controversial sights on present-day fiction, writers of note or notoriety, and fashionable literary attitudes and on historical and political topics of current interest

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction

285 pages, Hardcover

First published March 12, 1977

About the author

Works of American writer Eugene Luther Gore Vidal, noted for his cynical humor and his numerous accounts of society in decline, include the play The Best Man (1960) and the novel Myra Breckinridge (1968) .

People know his essays, screenplays, and Broadway.
They also knew his patrician manner, transatlantic accent, and witty aphorisms. Vidal came from a distinguished political lineage; his grandfather was the senator Thomas Gore, and he later became a relation (through marriage) to Jacqueline Kennedy.

Vidal, a longtime political critic, ran twice for political office. He was a lifelong isolationist Democrat. The Nation, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Review of Books, and Esquire published his essays.

Essays and media appearances long criticized foreign policy. In addition, he from the 1980s onwards characterized the United States as a decaying empire. Additionally, he was known for his well publicized spats with such figures as Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley, Jr., and Truman Capote.

They fell into distinct social and historical camps. Alongside his social, his best known historical include Julian, Burr, and Lincoln. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948), outraged conservative critics as the first major feature of unambiguous homosexuality.

At the time of his death he was the last of a generation of American writers who had served during World War II, including J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer and Joseph Heller. Perhaps best remembered for his caustic wit, he referred to himself as a "gentleman bitch" and has been described as the 20th century's answer to Oscar Wilde

Also used the pseudonym Edgar Box.

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Gore Vidal é um dos nomes centrais na história da literatura americana pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Nascido em 1925, em Nova Iorque, estudou na Academia de Phillips Exeter (Estado de New Hampshire). O seu primeiro romance, Williwaw (1946), era uma história da guerra claramente influenciada pelo estilo de Hemingway. Embora grande parte da sua obra tenha a ver com o século XX americano, Vidal debruçou-se várias vezes sobre épocas recuadas, como, por exemplo, em A Search for the King (1950), Juliano (1964) e Creation (1981).

Entre os seus temas de eleição está o mundo do cinema e, mais concretamente, os bastidores de Hollywood, que ele desmonta de forma satírica e implacável em títulos como Myra Breckinridge (1968), Myron (1975) e Duluth (1983).

Senhor de um estilo exuberante, multifacetado e sempre surpreendente, publicou, em 1995, a autobiografia Palimpsest: A Memoir. As obras 'O Instituto Smithsonian' e 'A Idade do Ouro' encontram-se traduzidas em português.

Neto do senador Thomas Gore, enteado do padrasto de Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, primo distante de Al Gore, Gore Vidal sempre se revelou um espelho crítico das grandezas e misérias dos EUA.

Faleceu a 31 de julho de 2012, aos 86 anos, na sua casa em Hollywood, vítima de pneumonia.

Reviews

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A confession: I own a signed by Gore himself, as he often came to UCLA. Now for the essays. Gore slashes his way through the literary landscape of the early Seventies from "The Top Ten Best Sellers {of 1971} in which he rightly burns Solzhenytsin (AUGUST 1914) and condescendingly praises Herman Wouk (THE WINDS OF WAR). Next on the platter are "The Hacks of Academe" (John Barth, Thomas Pynchon, William Gass): "These novels are written to be taught, not read". On the flip side, Vidal treats us the "Memoirs" of Tennessee Williams, where we find Gore prominently featured as "a handsome young kid" and the forever enticing saga of the multiple generation Adams family. A treat for fans of Gore and 70s American lit.

[Jack Burnham]

The jaunt through the best sellers is an all-timer, and Vidal is very funny when dissecting the tendencies of academics. The Tennessee Williams sections is funny, frank and quite touching despite Gore's attempts at distance. The history lesson on the Adams isn't his best stuff, he somehow fails to communicate his own enthusiasm

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first encounter with the inimitable Gore Vidal, and the only book I can think of that would make it bearable to be bedridden with mono. The opening essay, on how Hollywood shaped the literary and popular fiction on the New York Times bestseller list for a particular week, is a classic. No one could wield a rapier like Vidal, but here he praises with equal gusto: my lifelong interest in Louis Auchincloss began with Vidal's essay on the underappreciated (and now forgotten) author. If you still haven't read Vidal, this is as good a place to start as any, but don't stop here.

[Herb Hastings · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book about 40 years ago. Some of the topics are a bit dated but the writing is still crisp and the observations enjoyably jaundiced. Reading Vidal's take on the 70's makes you wish he was still around to turn his pen upon the current shenanigans that pass for our government. The sad truth is that no matter how pessimistic his picture of the future of our Republic, things have turned out much worse than even he expected.
I highly recommend spending some time with this book.

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may have been the second volume of literary criticism that I ever read ... And I remember reading it with a fervor never again duplicated. Perhaps because I admired Vidal's fiction, and because he expressed scant taste for what he calls the U Novel (fiction meant to be studied, not read for pleasure), this set of essays became a guide to contemporary literature for me.

Highly recommended.

[Guto · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was the book that reveal the US entertainment industry to me. I loved reading it, Vidal is a master in essays always.

[André Plath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Essay: Sex is Politics!!