What do you think?
Rate this book
In Bed with Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal claimed there was no such thing as “gay,” only gay sexual acts. But what was the truth about his sex life and sexuality—and how did it affect and influence his writing and public life?
With In Bed with Gore Vidal: Hustlers, Hollywood, and the Private World of an American Master, Tim Teeman interviews many of Vidal’s closest family and friends, including Claire Bloom and Susan Sarandon, as well as surveying Vidal’s own rich personal archive, to build a rounded portrait of who this lion of American letters really was away from the page.
Here, revealed for the first time, Teeman discovers the Hollywood stars Vidal slept with and the reality of his life with partner Howard Austen — and the hustlers they both enjoyed. Was Gore’s true love really a boy from prep school? Was he really, as he said, bisexual, and if so how close did he really get to marrying women, including Claire Bloom and Joanne Woodward? And if Vidal really was gay, why did he not want to say so? Did his own sex secrets underpin a legal fight with adversary William F. Buckley, still being played out after his death?
Much as Vidal fought against being categorized, Teeman shows how he also proved himself to be a pugnacious advocate for gay sexual freedom in his books, articles, and high-profile media appearances. Teeman also, for the first time, vividly and movingly evokes the final, painful and tragic years of Vidal’s life, as he descended into alcoholism and dementia, his death, and the bitter, contentious legacy he has left behind.
With In Bed with Gore Vidal: Hustlers, Hollywood, and the Private World of an American Master, Tim Teeman interviews many of Vidal’s closest family and friends, including Claire Bloom and Susan Sarandon, as well as surveying Vidal’s own rich personal archive, to build a rounded portrait of who this lion of American letters really was away from the page.
Here, revealed for the first time, Teeman discovers the Hollywood stars Vidal slept with and the reality of his life with partner Howard Austen — and the hustlers they both enjoyed. Was Gore’s true love really a boy from prep school? Was he really, as he said, bisexual, and if so how close did he really get to marrying women, including Claire Bloom and Joanne Woodward? And if Vidal really was gay, why did he not want to say so? Did his own sex secrets underpin a legal fight with adversary William F. Buckley, still being played out after his death?
Much as Vidal fought against being categorized, Teeman shows how he also proved himself to be a pugnacious advocate for gay sexual freedom in his books, articles, and high-profile media appearances. Teeman also, for the first time, vividly and movingly evokes the final, painful and tragic years of Vidal’s life, as he descended into alcoholism and dementia, his death, and the bitter, contentious legacy he has left behind.
296 pages, Paperback
First published October 21, 2013
31 people are currently reading
471 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
February 17, 2014
This is one of the most cogent and well-written books about Gore Vidal that I've yet read. It sheds considerable light on his personal life, philosophy, and thoughts on a host of subjects. Gore Vidal, for those of us who have read deeply of his works, watched him debate his critics or hold court on TV over the decades and dazzle his audiences with his wit and supreme intellect, was a larger-than-life force on the world stage. Mr. Teeman is to be congratulated for the amount of work he put into this, his debut book, as well as for interviewing scores of people who knew Gore Vidal best (e.g. his half sister Nina Straight and nephew Burr Steers; and the actresses Joanne Woodward, Claire Bloom, and Susan Sarandon).
For me, as a long-time Gore Vidal fan, this book was heady stuff. Sobering, too, because this book made me acutely aware of Vidal's emotional side, which helps to explain what a complex figure he was. Acerbic, funny, and a master mimic. (These qualities I witnessed first-hand in September 2000, when I went to see Vidal speak at the Smithsonian and later had the honor of having him autograph my copy of his last novel, "THE GOLDEN AGE.") And for those people who were lucky enough to win his trust and respect and be counted among his closest friends, they were granted access to the Gore Vidal who had a big heart and gave financial support to friends who had fallen upon hard times.
While Gore Vidal was with us, I gave little thought to his private life. To be truthful, I wasn't particularly curious about it, for his public persona engaged my full attention and interest.
Novelist, award-winning playwright, social critic, political activist, Hollywood scriptwriter, and one of the greatest essayists of the last century, Gore Vidal bestrode the world like a Colossus. What saddened me in reading this book was learning how sad and tragic the last few years of Vidal's life were, as he battled illness, alcoholism, and coming to terms with the death (in 2003) of his longtime companion, Howard Austen, with whom he shared a full, rich, and engaging life (in the U.S. and Italy) for 53 years.
For Gore Vidal fans and other readers who want to understand the man and his legacy, this book comes highly recommended.
For me, as a long-time Gore Vidal fan, this book was heady stuff. Sobering, too, because this book made me acutely aware of Vidal's emotional side, which helps to explain what a complex figure he was. Acerbic, funny, and a master mimic. (These qualities I witnessed first-hand in September 2000, when I went to see Vidal speak at the Smithsonian and later had the honor of having him autograph my copy of his last novel, "THE GOLDEN AGE.") And for those people who were lucky enough to win his trust and respect and be counted among his closest friends, they were granted access to the Gore Vidal who had a big heart and gave financial support to friends who had fallen upon hard times.
While Gore Vidal was with us, I gave little thought to his private life. To be truthful, I wasn't particularly curious about it, for his public persona engaged my full attention and interest.
Novelist, award-winning playwright, social critic, political activist, Hollywood scriptwriter, and one of the greatest essayists of the last century, Gore Vidal bestrode the world like a Colossus. What saddened me in reading this book was learning how sad and tragic the last few years of Vidal's life were, as he battled illness, alcoholism, and coming to terms with the death (in 2003) of his longtime companion, Howard Austen, with whom he shared a full, rich, and engaging life (in the U.S. and Italy) for 53 years.
For Gore Vidal fans and other readers who want to understand the man and his legacy, this book comes highly recommended.
December 28, 2020
The most scurrilous assertion in this book – and one I am surprised that author Tim Teeman has not been called out on – is that Gore Vidal was ‘afraid’ of William Buckley, who allegedly had a ‘file’ on, among other things, his sexual activities with minors, which would have meant that Vidal was a pederast. Yes, granted he visited Thailand on several occasions for shady sex holidays and had a lifelong fixation on the ‘great love of his life’, Jimmie Trimble, but … a pederast!?
Buckley and Vidal clashed famously in a series of televised debates staged by ABC to cover the 1968 Presidential nomination conventions. In one of the later debates, a visibly harried Buckley totally lost his shit and snarled: “Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in your goddam face, and you’ll stay plastered—” The fallout would see both men publish duelling articles in Esquire and engage vigorously in a three-year lawsuit that ultimately cost Vidal $1 million in legal fees alone (a sum he borrowed from his half-sister Nina Straight and never repaid).
Of course, it is Nina whom Tim gets to twist the knife in about the underage sex allegations (perhaps understandably in the above context?): “Buckley claimed to have evidence that Vidal was having sex with underage males, I ask? Straight nods. ‘It would be hypothetical but you can cover that range, yes.’” Surely such murky conjecture does not count as solid evidence. But then Vidal did love to obfuscate, especially on the matter of his sex life, the arena where Tim’s authorial spotlight shines brightest.
I was a bit hesitant to read this book initially as, especially with that title, I expected a grubby raking-over-the-coals of the impact of rampant same-sex desire on Vidal’s life, both private and in terms of his literary output (he only ever claimed to be bisexual). Much to my surprise, this is probably one of the most accessible books about the Great Man you could possibly read, apart from the official Fred Kaplan biography.
Tim teeters occasionally on the fine line between being biographical as opposed to unnecessarily salacious, as evidenced by his account of Vidal’s “intimate and steamy” one-night stand with Jack Kerouac in New York in 1953:
Here, one of literature’s most famous gay hook-ups took place between two men, Vidal and Kerouac, whose own sexualities were of no fixed abode. Kerouac was three times married with one daughter, Vidal gay but defiantly un-self defined. But their evening together was memorable enough for both men to set it down — contested accounts, still wreathed in mystery — in writing.
Nina and her son Burr Steers (meaning Vidal was his uncle) are the main ‘inside’ sources for this book, with Tim noting that “Those overseeing Vidal’s estate would not co-operate … or give me access to whatever papers and documents of Vidal’s the Estate holds.” I think it is important to note that, at the time of publication in 2013, Nina and Burr were knee-deep in what was termed ‘Vidal’s Final Feud’ (cousin Andrew Auschincloss was in the fray as well), litigating against a last-minute codicil that made Harvard his sole heir, including copyright, even though he had even been a student at the university.
Yes, there is a fair amount of salacious tittering throughout, with some jaw- and name-dropping accounts of Vidal in full stud mode, but this only adds to the necessary messiness of a life lived, literally, in utter gay abandon. Or not nearly gay enough? Despite boasting of having had sex with (at least) a thousand men by 25, Vidal never referred to himself as gay:
“The ‘homosexualist (sometimes known as gay, fag, queer etc)...does not exist. The human race is divided into male and female. Many human beings enjoy sexual relations with their own sex, many don’t; many respond to both. This plurality is the fact of our nature and not worth fretting about.’”
Or the fact, much later on, that he was in a devoted relationship. Vidal effectively renounced any labelling, repeatedly stating there was no such thing as a gay lifestyle, aesthetic, sensibility or identity – only gay sexual acts. And that all people are naturally bisexual, according to the Kinsey definition. Indeed, one of the most frustrating chapters is number nine, ‘Lovers or Good Friends? Vidal’s Women’.
“He had an absolute distaste for identity politics,” says Altman. “Gore was a patrician: he had a very strong sense of himself as needing to play a central role in the affairs of his country. He had a continual bitterness that not everyone agreed with him. Queer theory would have annoyed the shit out of him.”
Vidal famously said that he only fucked. He reportedly never even gave head, which lead Christopher Bram to comment drily: “… well gee, did he really miss out on one of the greatest pleasures of sex between men?” Vidal also claimed, rather notoriously in my opinion, to never have been concerned about the gratification of any partner (which is why his main sexual outlet was hustling, even after he became involved with lifelong partner Howard Austen).
I wonder what Vidal would have made of Tom Ford’s (in)famous 2004 assertion in a GQ interview that “Every man should be fucked at some point in his life”. Ford went on to clarify his, er, position in a 2016 GQ interview to promote his movie ‘Nocturnal Animals’: “I think it would help them understand women. It’s such a vulnerable position to be in, and it’s such a passive position to be in. And there’s such an invasion, in a way, that even if it’s consensual, it’s just very personal.”
While reading this book I watched ‘Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia’ (2013) and ‘Best of Enemies’ (2015), which focuses on the Buckley vs. Vidal ABC debates. Directors Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville argue that this ushered in the trend of “public discourse and pundit TV”. I am not entirely convinced, as I’d hate to draw a direct line to the recent calamitous Trump vs. Biden presidential debates, which surely marks a new low in such an august lineage. Of course, it would be impossible now for two such white privileged males to claim any exclusive or privileged insight into the public discourse.
When Howard passed away in 2003 aged 74, it seemed to have totally unhinged Vidal. They had been together for 53 years. Vidal never believed in romantic love, or was able to express genuine emotion or feeling towards his partner in a public forum (he famously steered well away from any hint of gay or identity politics, including the battle against AIDS). Yet the death of Howard unmanned him, marking the beginning of an ignominious decline:
The proper name for the syndrome is Wernicke-Korsakoff, a brain syndrome suffered by long-term alcoholics characterized by a number of symptoms, including confusion and hallucinations. When Vidal and Steers had taken Austen’s ashes to be interred, Vidal had said “that he really didn’t want that kind of long, drawn-out thing to happen to him, and yet it happened and in the worst way,” says Steers. “It was a really horrible final act.”
Vidal spent most of his final years embittered and increasingly isolated and lonely, slowly shedding all of his closest friends and support structure as the madness of his disease took hold. This is where Tim begins his book, with Vidal (finally) succumbing to pneumonia on 31 July 2012, aged 86, “in the early evening in a bed set up in his downstairs living room so he could look out to his garden, including the tall fir trees that so reminded him of his years living in Rome in the 1960s: his very own Dolce Vita featuring a lot sex with beautiful young men.”
Buckley and Vidal clashed famously in a series of televised debates staged by ABC to cover the 1968 Presidential nomination conventions. In one of the later debates, a visibly harried Buckley totally lost his shit and snarled: “Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in your goddam face, and you’ll stay plastered—” The fallout would see both men publish duelling articles in Esquire and engage vigorously in a three-year lawsuit that ultimately cost Vidal $1 million in legal fees alone (a sum he borrowed from his half-sister Nina Straight and never repaid).
Of course, it is Nina whom Tim gets to twist the knife in about the underage sex allegations (perhaps understandably in the above context?): “Buckley claimed to have evidence that Vidal was having sex with underage males, I ask? Straight nods. ‘It would be hypothetical but you can cover that range, yes.’” Surely such murky conjecture does not count as solid evidence. But then Vidal did love to obfuscate, especially on the matter of his sex life, the arena where Tim’s authorial spotlight shines brightest.
I was a bit hesitant to read this book initially as, especially with that title, I expected a grubby raking-over-the-coals of the impact of rampant same-sex desire on Vidal’s life, both private and in terms of his literary output (he only ever claimed to be bisexual). Much to my surprise, this is probably one of the most accessible books about the Great Man you could possibly read, apart from the official Fred Kaplan biography.
Tim teeters occasionally on the fine line between being biographical as opposed to unnecessarily salacious, as evidenced by his account of Vidal’s “intimate and steamy” one-night stand with Jack Kerouac in New York in 1953:
Here, one of literature’s most famous gay hook-ups took place between two men, Vidal and Kerouac, whose own sexualities were of no fixed abode. Kerouac was three times married with one daughter, Vidal gay but defiantly un-self defined. But their evening together was memorable enough for both men to set it down — contested accounts, still wreathed in mystery — in writing.
Nina and her son Burr Steers (meaning Vidal was his uncle) are the main ‘inside’ sources for this book, with Tim noting that “Those overseeing Vidal’s estate would not co-operate … or give me access to whatever papers and documents of Vidal’s the Estate holds.” I think it is important to note that, at the time of publication in 2013, Nina and Burr were knee-deep in what was termed ‘Vidal’s Final Feud’ (cousin Andrew Auschincloss was in the fray as well), litigating against a last-minute codicil that made Harvard his sole heir, including copyright, even though he had even been a student at the university.
Yes, there is a fair amount of salacious tittering throughout, with some jaw- and name-dropping accounts of Vidal in full stud mode, but this only adds to the necessary messiness of a life lived, literally, in utter gay abandon. Or not nearly gay enough? Despite boasting of having had sex with (at least) a thousand men by 25, Vidal never referred to himself as gay:
“The ‘homosexualist (sometimes known as gay, fag, queer etc)...does not exist. The human race is divided into male and female. Many human beings enjoy sexual relations with their own sex, many don’t; many respond to both. This plurality is the fact of our nature and not worth fretting about.’”
Or the fact, much later on, that he was in a devoted relationship. Vidal effectively renounced any labelling, repeatedly stating there was no such thing as a gay lifestyle, aesthetic, sensibility or identity – only gay sexual acts. And that all people are naturally bisexual, according to the Kinsey definition. Indeed, one of the most frustrating chapters is number nine, ‘Lovers or Good Friends? Vidal’s Women’.
“He had an absolute distaste for identity politics,” says Altman. “Gore was a patrician: he had a very strong sense of himself as needing to play a central role in the affairs of his country. He had a continual bitterness that not everyone agreed with him. Queer theory would have annoyed the shit out of him.”
Vidal famously said that he only fucked. He reportedly never even gave head, which lead Christopher Bram to comment drily: “… well gee, did he really miss out on one of the greatest pleasures of sex between men?” Vidal also claimed, rather notoriously in my opinion, to never have been concerned about the gratification of any partner (which is why his main sexual outlet was hustling, even after he became involved with lifelong partner Howard Austen).
I wonder what Vidal would have made of Tom Ford’s (in)famous 2004 assertion in a GQ interview that “Every man should be fucked at some point in his life”. Ford went on to clarify his, er, position in a 2016 GQ interview to promote his movie ‘Nocturnal Animals’: “I think it would help them understand women. It’s such a vulnerable position to be in, and it’s such a passive position to be in. And there’s such an invasion, in a way, that even if it’s consensual, it’s just very personal.”
While reading this book I watched ‘Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia’ (2013) and ‘Best of Enemies’ (2015), which focuses on the Buckley vs. Vidal ABC debates. Directors Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville argue that this ushered in the trend of “public discourse and pundit TV”. I am not entirely convinced, as I’d hate to draw a direct line to the recent calamitous Trump vs. Biden presidential debates, which surely marks a new low in such an august lineage. Of course, it would be impossible now for two such white privileged males to claim any exclusive or privileged insight into the public discourse.
When Howard passed away in 2003 aged 74, it seemed to have totally unhinged Vidal. They had been together for 53 years. Vidal never believed in romantic love, or was able to express genuine emotion or feeling towards his partner in a public forum (he famously steered well away from any hint of gay or identity politics, including the battle against AIDS). Yet the death of Howard unmanned him, marking the beginning of an ignominious decline:
The proper name for the syndrome is Wernicke-Korsakoff, a brain syndrome suffered by long-term alcoholics characterized by a number of symptoms, including confusion and hallucinations. When Vidal and Steers had taken Austen’s ashes to be interred, Vidal had said “that he really didn’t want that kind of long, drawn-out thing to happen to him, and yet it happened and in the worst way,” says Steers. “It was a really horrible final act.”
Vidal spent most of his final years embittered and increasingly isolated and lonely, slowly shedding all of his closest friends and support structure as the madness of his disease took hold. This is where Tim begins his book, with Vidal (finally) succumbing to pneumonia on 31 July 2012, aged 86, “in the early evening in a bed set up in his downstairs living room so he could look out to his garden, including the tall fir trees that so reminded him of his years living in Rome in the 1960s: his very own Dolce Vita featuring a lot sex with beautiful young men.”
January 21, 2015
Getting under the covers with Gore Vidal is a terrifying prospect when thinking about the last time I saw him appear live on television. It was when David Dimbleby interviewed Vidal after Obama’s election in 2008. The elderly Vidal was haughty, argumentative and made no sense. Since he was such a vocal and frequent presence on television throughout his life, Tim Teeman references this incident in the book as the nadir of Vidal’s many public appearances due to his evident mental and physical decline. The appearance was particularly embarrassing in relation to thinking about a time when I’d seen him several years before give a reading at a PEN event in London. After the event people were mingling in the corridor chatting away when Vidal’s long-term partner Howard came bursting through clearing a path with a walking stick and grumbling “Make way! Make way!” as Vidal followed behind him strutting with his nose held high like an imperial statesman while everyone looked upon him with awe. People surrounding him practically bowed in respect. Looking past his status and accomplishments, consider portraits of the tall masculine intellectual stud in his heyday and the prospect of slipping in bed with Vidal is much more enticing. I was ambiguous about wanting to go there, but now that I’ve read this insightful, entertaining and admirable biography I’m glad that I did. In this book Teeman disentangles Vidal’s complicated position on sexuality while constructing a history of his erotic life. In doing so he creates an important portrait of one of recent gay history’s most controversial figures. 'In Bed with Gore Vidal' prompts us to challenge our assumptions and ask vital questions about how we define sexuality on a personal, social and political level.
Read my full review at LonesomeReader review of In Bed with Gore Vidal by Tim Teeman
Read my full review at LonesomeReader review of In Bed with Gore Vidal by Tim Teeman
October 2, 2013
Gore Vidal was a very complicated man. He clearly was homosexual, and yet for a variety of reasons (which are all gone into depth in this book) the author refused to ever claim the title. Am not widely read on Gore Vidal, but will forever remember the day I picked up the paperback Myra Breckinridge from a discount book bin. Didn't know much about Myra, but did know it was XXX. And that was all I needed to know. The book is a triumph of voice in literature, and a laugh out loud riot.
Vidal - to all who knew him and all of who watched - was this if nothing else: the absolute master of the put down. Gore Vidal had notorious dust ups, some of which turned into lawsuits. Famous opponents - and maybe my favorite match-off - was against William F. Buckley. William F. was certainly a character in his own right, pretentious with an array of frightening facial tics all while holding a seriously right wing perspective. Cut to the punch: Gore called Buckley a Nazi, and William F. called him a pink queer. Others opponents included Truman Capote and Norman Mailer. Gore sued Mailer, and Buckley sued Vidal. Sadly, we don't have this kind of fun in the literary world anymore.
Really enjoyed this book, but prospective readers do take the title literally. In fact, one could call this a sexual biography. It gets very sexual, and a lot of famous Hollywood names are dropped too, because Vidal was a screenwriter for a time. Found the writing of high calibre, so the sexual tangents blend in, the way good writing works. It comes as no surprise though that the Hollywood career didn't take off. Gore Vidal did not play well with others, ever. Scotty Bowers makes some interesting observations, being he basically operated as a pimp for Vidal (and was a hustler himself). Although not a hustler, Peter Lawford performed a similar service for the Kennedys.
Stories around Jackie and the Kennedy brothers (and father Joe too), make for very interesting reading, and only serve to reinforce my negative opinion of all of them. Did you know Robert F. Kennedy didn't want Vidal at the White House when Jack was president, because how would that look? A homosexual as part of the inner circle? Who knew they had any moral leanings whatsoever. Won't spoil the fun, but let's just say there's a scene from a party with all of them that's quite the shocker.
It was sad to read that after Gore lost his long term partner Howard Austin, he just about fell apart. Howard was the perfect polar opposite to Gore. Born in the Bronx, and not especially gifted mentally, he could and would put Gore in his place like no one else around. Gore didn't truly appreciate nor realize how much he leaned on Howard until after he was gone. A very good book, and it seriously enlightened me about this very noted author. Well done!
Vidal - to all who knew him and all of who watched - was this if nothing else: the absolute master of the put down. Gore Vidal had notorious dust ups, some of which turned into lawsuits. Famous opponents - and maybe my favorite match-off - was against William F. Buckley. William F. was certainly a character in his own right, pretentious with an array of frightening facial tics all while holding a seriously right wing perspective. Cut to the punch: Gore called Buckley a Nazi, and William F. called him a pink queer. Others opponents included Truman Capote and Norman Mailer. Gore sued Mailer, and Buckley sued Vidal. Sadly, we don't have this kind of fun in the literary world anymore.
Really enjoyed this book, but prospective readers do take the title literally. In fact, one could call this a sexual biography. It gets very sexual, and a lot of famous Hollywood names are dropped too, because Vidal was a screenwriter for a time. Found the writing of high calibre, so the sexual tangents blend in, the way good writing works. It comes as no surprise though that the Hollywood career didn't take off. Gore Vidal did not play well with others, ever. Scotty Bowers makes some interesting observations, being he basically operated as a pimp for Vidal (and was a hustler himself). Although not a hustler, Peter Lawford performed a similar service for the Kennedys.
Stories around Jackie and the Kennedy brothers (and father Joe too), make for very interesting reading, and only serve to reinforce my negative opinion of all of them. Did you know Robert F. Kennedy didn't want Vidal at the White House when Jack was president, because how would that look? A homosexual as part of the inner circle? Who knew they had any moral leanings whatsoever. Won't spoil the fun, but let's just say there's a scene from a party with all of them that's quite the shocker.
It was sad to read that after Gore lost his long term partner Howard Austin, he just about fell apart. Howard was the perfect polar opposite to Gore. Born in the Bronx, and not especially gifted mentally, he could and would put Gore in his place like no one else around. Gore didn't truly appreciate nor realize how much he leaned on Howard until after he was gone. A very good book, and it seriously enlightened me about this very noted author. Well done!
December 28, 2022
Гор Видал не е бил над клюките, в известен смисъл те биха му подхождали. Американски аристократ, интелектуалец и писател, изискан, циничен, свободолюбив, обаче странно консервативен, остроумен, нарцистичен с мания за контрол, същевременно мил, хедонист с вкус към неопределен брой красиви мъже, същевременно споделил 50
години с един партньор, един от най-провокативните познавачи на мастодонта, наречен САЩ. Всяко от тези определения би му подхождало, и същевременно би било крайно недостатъчно. Самият Гор е ненавиждал етикетите.
Дори клюките обаче трябва да имат структура на поднасяне, а тук такава липсва. Има миш-маш от имена и реплики, подадени често неясно от кого, често откровено злобни. Нищо ново не се научава за Гор Видал след първата глава. След това се въртят само повторения на дребни, ненужни подробности и опитващи се да минат за куриозни битовизми. Те не са в състояние да оформят цялостен портрет, и дори започват силно да отегчават. Ако тази книга беше статия, би била интересна или поне любопитна. Но в този си вид е безпредметна.
1,5⭐️
години с един партньор, един от най-провокативните познавачи на мастодонта, наречен САЩ. Всяко от тези определения би му подхождало, и същевременно би било крайно недостатъчно. Самият Гор е ненавиждал етикетите.
Дори клюките обаче трябва да имат структура на поднасяне, а тук такава липсва. Има миш-маш от имена и реплики, подадени често неясно от кого, често откровено злобни. Нищо ново не се научава за Гор Видал след първата глава. След това се въртят само повторения на дребни, ненужни подробности и опитващи се да минат за куриозни битовизми. Те не са в състояние да оформят цялостен портрет, и дори започват силно да отегчават. Ако тази книга беше статия, би била интересна или поне любопитна. Но в този си вид е безпредметна.
1,5⭐️
January 20, 2015
I received a reviewer's copy of this book on Netgalley.
This took me a while to read! It's a journalist-written book about the private life of Gore Vidal, based on interviews the author did with Gore Vidal, his friends, his family, and other people who were somehow in his life. The book heavily privileges things said about Vidal by others, but does contain some content drawn from his writings and an interview the author had with him in 2009.
However, I got a very first-draft sense when reading this. The whole thing seems very jumbled, as if the author did all this deep interviewing and research, then after Vidal died was under intense pressure to get this thing out quickly, and just resorted to throwing all his index cards on the floor, shuffling them into vaguely topical piles, and then typing it up from there. Or something involving sort functions and Zotero, I don't know how people write books these days. But I felt as though I was given not a portrait of a man, but instead a box of jigsaw puzzle pieces to put together myself. I maybe got one or or two clumps of pieces together, but certainly not any sort of big picture about who Gore Vidal was or what his life and life's work means to any of us right now, let alone what he means to history.
But maybe that's not such a bad thing. Gore Vidal was a messed-up jumble of a man, perhaps his life just can't be shoehorned into a proper chronological narrative structure. I can honestly say I don't feel like I know Gore Vidal any better after reading this. But this book is quite rich in interesting interview material that will certainly be used as in the next few years people start writing "second-draft of history" post-mortem biographies of Vidal.
This took me a while to read! It's a journalist-written book about the private life of Gore Vidal, based on interviews the author did with Gore Vidal, his friends, his family, and other people who were somehow in his life. The book heavily privileges things said about Vidal by others, but does contain some content drawn from his writings and an interview the author had with him in 2009.
However, I got a very first-draft sense when reading this. The whole thing seems very jumbled, as if the author did all this deep interviewing and research, then after Vidal died was under intense pressure to get this thing out quickly, and just resorted to throwing all his index cards on the floor, shuffling them into vaguely topical piles, and then typing it up from there. Or something involving sort functions and Zotero, I don't know how people write books these days. But I felt as though I was given not a portrait of a man, but instead a box of jigsaw puzzle pieces to put together myself. I maybe got one or or two clumps of pieces together, but certainly not any sort of big picture about who Gore Vidal was or what his life and life's work means to any of us right now, let alone what he means to history.
But maybe that's not such a bad thing. Gore Vidal was a messed-up jumble of a man, perhaps his life just can't be shoehorned into a proper chronological narrative structure. I can honestly say I don't feel like I know Gore Vidal any better after reading this. But this book is quite rich in interesting interview material that will certainly be used as in the next few years people start writing "second-draft of history" post-mortem biographies of Vidal.
October 2, 2022
Vidal was so brilliant, witty, well-connected, and outlandish that anything written about him is guaranteed to be at least somewhat entertaining. And that's what this collection of salacious gossip is... somewhat entertaining. The "somewhat" is due to the fact that it's repetitious as hell. I had to read this a few pages at a time in between other books so that it wouldn't get on my nerves.
On the plus side, I heard a few rumors about Vidal that didn't make it into his biography or memoirs. Also, got to hear what several of Vidal's friends and colleagues thought about him. (I was sort of shocked that people could be so judge-y and suspicious!) Like all humans, Vidal had a dishonorable dark side, and in his case it manifested more in his sex life than his work. Something to think about.
At any rate, this is must reading for Vidalomaniacs, but everyone else should feel free to skip it.
On the plus side, I heard a few rumors about Vidal that didn't make it into his biography or memoirs. Also, got to hear what several of Vidal's friends and colleagues thought about him. (I was sort of shocked that people could be so judge-y and suspicious!) Like all humans, Vidal had a dishonorable dark side, and in his case it manifested more in his sex life than his work. Something to think about.
At any rate, this is must reading for Vidalomaniacs, but everyone else should feel free to skip it.
August 25, 2016
An exposé endlessly repeating itself. Teeman fills in lacunae but anyone who's read Vidal over the years will find few surprises. I enjoyed the tales of old Hollywood and the Roman romps, but was a bit sickened by the story of how it all ended.
If Vidal himself hadn't been such a fund of scurrilous anecdote, you'd have to feel sorry for him. Fortunately no pity is required.
If Vidal himself hadn't been such a fund of scurrilous anecdote, you'd have to feel sorry for him. Fortunately no pity is required.
April 4, 2014
An unorganized mess for at least the first half. No flow; awkward, jarring transitions. Later it gets a tad better. The author beats the reader over the head relentlessly that Gore didn't consider himself gay. I didn't need 500 quotes to prove it.
December 22, 2016
What this book does -- in very fast-paced fashion -- is assume you know the literary career of Gore Vidal and a good deal of his contemporaries by name. I'd imagine nearly everyone drawn to this book has the same operating level -- so that's not an issue. In fact, I was happy to hear so much dirt and such cutting quotes from celebrities all around Gore Vidal -- along with his biting comebacks and take downs. For that stuff - this book has a great selection. But that's Gore and other celebrity quotes -- not an original exploration of the man.
Though the dirt is good -- as a biography or "sexual exploration" -- this book is rather merciless from the prologue. It decrees that any failure to be openly gay and to admit he wasn't actually a bisexual made by Vidal was a result of his place in society and his self hatred. Could well have been the case. Let's be honest -- it's Gore Vidal. But this was given as proof that he was a heartless and horrible man. Oddly, the book contains a walk through the incredible trials and tribulations he walked through always faulting him. I wonder why? There never seemed a point. Instead it felt like it was more fun to be cruel than it was to explore things more deeply.
Sure, maybe the guy lied in some stories and didn't admit how much he cared about key lovers. We know that from Palimpsest -- quotes from which make up probably 20% of this book. So then what really happened beyond the conflicting gossip (all of which paints him if not horribly, then pathetically)? That question mark hangs in the air.
This felt more an invitation to visit its source material than a book that made discoveries.
Though the dirt is good -- as a biography or "sexual exploration" -- this book is rather merciless from the prologue. It decrees that any failure to be openly gay and to admit he wasn't actually a bisexual made by Vidal was a result of his place in society and his self hatred. Could well have been the case. Let's be honest -- it's Gore Vidal. But this was given as proof that he was a heartless and horrible man. Oddly, the book contains a walk through the incredible trials and tribulations he walked through always faulting him. I wonder why? There never seemed a point. Instead it felt like it was more fun to be cruel than it was to explore things more deeply.
Sure, maybe the guy lied in some stories and didn't admit how much he cared about key lovers. We know that from Palimpsest -- quotes from which make up probably 20% of this book. So then what really happened beyond the conflicting gossip (all of which paints him if not horribly, then pathetically)? That question mark hangs in the air.
This felt more an invitation to visit its source material than a book that made discoveries.
November 12, 2025
I've been fascinated by Gore Vidal. Not his own writing but him as a persona, a public intellectual. Particularly one with heterodox opinions on homosexuality.
This book starts out as a sort of trashy expose on Vidal's sex life and personal relationships. (The big revelations are that he liked to pay young men for sex and that he claimed to be a total top; not so shocking, but amusing enough.) This part of the book is really poorly written and edited. Page after page of meandering paragraphs, each paragraph often containing two or three unrelated anecdotes strung together as non-sequiturs. Each little story is interesting enough but they don't come together coherently.
Surprisingly, the book gets a lot stronger when it moves past the gossip-rag stuff in to Vidal's conception of himself and homosexuality. Both his own personal life and his public writing and speaking about homosexuality. Vidal's a complicated man, and apparently somewhat of a miserable self-loathing man, and Teeman brings this out with insight and compassion. Even the parts where Vidal has degenerated into foul drunkenness, the author finds interesting and sympathetic things to say.
Totally worth a read if you want to know more about Vidal or are fascinated by this pre-gay-lib version of the public homosexual. Just bring some patience for a book that doesn't quite hold together.
This book starts out as a sort of trashy expose on Vidal's sex life and personal relationships. (The big revelations are that he liked to pay young men for sex and that he claimed to be a total top; not so shocking, but amusing enough.) This part of the book is really poorly written and edited. Page after page of meandering paragraphs, each paragraph often containing two or three unrelated anecdotes strung together as non-sequiturs. Each little story is interesting enough but they don't come together coherently.
Surprisingly, the book gets a lot stronger when it moves past the gossip-rag stuff in to Vidal's conception of himself and homosexuality. Both his own personal life and his public writing and speaking about homosexuality. Vidal's a complicated man, and apparently somewhat of a miserable self-loathing man, and Teeman brings this out with insight and compassion. Even the parts where Vidal has degenerated into foul drunkenness, the author finds interesting and sympathetic things to say.
Totally worth a read if you want to know more about Vidal or are fascinated by this pre-gay-lib version of the public homosexual. Just bring some patience for a book that doesn't quite hold together.
March 22, 2016
My questions about Gore Vidal's sex life and philosophy of sex seemed more interesting before I read this book. Most informative were the remarkable contributions by Vidal's sister Nina and by Scotty Bowers, the Hollywood pimp. My favorite fact? Vidal is reported to have written 10,000 words a day! And I'll never think of the Duchess of Windsor again in quite the same way....
January 10, 2018
Poorly done but juicy. An insomniac's read.
Choice Excerpts:
"In Ravello, as later in his life in Los Angeles too, Vidal would stay up and invite his houseguest that night to stay up with him; a bottle of Scotch would be opened until after four in the morning, the Vidal story machine on full throttle. The term 'heavy drinker' was no shame to him, quite the opposite [...]. I remember once helping him home drunk from Ravello, getting to the gate and he showed a fence that had been constructed to the side preventing a drop to a vineyard below. 'You know, a person could fall in there,' he said, and I knew by his tone that he had."
"There was an unspoken rule that Vidal and Austen wouldn't bring men back to La Rondinaia: one day, Vidal pronounced apropos of nothing, 'I've never had sex in Ravello.' Austen said, 'I have." Asked why he abstained, Vidal responded. "Well, when I moved here I didn't wan't to be viewed as the pederast who lived at the end of the road, so I made it my business to never have sex with anyone who lived in this village.' 'What did you do?' Vidal replied, 'Well, I would go to Minori, which is right down the hill.'"
Choice Excerpts:
"In Ravello, as later in his life in Los Angeles too, Vidal would stay up and invite his houseguest that night to stay up with him; a bottle of Scotch would be opened until after four in the morning, the Vidal story machine on full throttle. The term 'heavy drinker' was no shame to him, quite the opposite [...]. I remember once helping him home drunk from Ravello, getting to the gate and he showed a fence that had been constructed to the side preventing a drop to a vineyard below. 'You know, a person could fall in there,' he said, and I knew by his tone that he had."
"There was an unspoken rule that Vidal and Austen wouldn't bring men back to La Rondinaia: one day, Vidal pronounced apropos of nothing, 'I've never had sex in Ravello.' Austen said, 'I have." Asked why he abstained, Vidal responded. "Well, when I moved here I didn't wan't to be viewed as the pederast who lived at the end of the road, so I made it my business to never have sex with anyone who lived in this village.' 'What did you do?' Vidal replied, 'Well, I would go to Minori, which is right down the hill.'"
April 19, 2018
On a bit of a Gore Vidal bender lately. This volume is gossipy and seems to have missed an important stage in the editing process. Paragraphs often change topic midstream. It is unclear who is talking. Typos galore. And worst of all -- it is boring. How much time do people want to devote to talking about Gore and Howard's sex life? And which labels apply. It is traced to Foucault here, but Kinsey also said there were homosexual acts but not homosexual people. Teeman seems keen to nail Vidal down into a category, as if he were some kind of specimen. To me it seems incredibly brave to come out, as Vidal did, in the late 1940's as a bisexual. Remember, at this time, such behaviour was a crime in many places, including Canada and the UK. To criticize these life choices, after his death in 2012, seems mean-spirited and even cruel. But worst of all -- boring.
August 10, 2016
This is an absorbing book, well-researched but hurried and repetitious, not unlike Vidal's frequent repetitions on the subject of the book--that there are no gay persons, only gay (or homosexual, since he disliked the word "gay") acts, which he practiced too many times to estimate in his own life. Ultimately, despite his huge success as an author and political commentator, this is a sad story about a man who lived with and loved another man for 53 years yet never acknowledged him as his partner till after the partner's (Howard Austen's) death. Still, what would we have done without Vidal? Although I never entirely agreed with him (and he no doubt didn't agree with himself all the time), what would we have done without this unique spokesman from my parents' generation?
May 8, 2014
Even the blurb tells the main thesis -- Vidal believed that there were no gay or straight people, only gay or straight actions. I counted 12 separate times, this or some variation of this theme was expounded in the words of this book. My ebook version complements of NetGallery listed 296 pages so on average every 25 pages this theme was shared.
Too many times!
In spite of this, I still,would purchase this book for my library as an excellent study of Gore Vidals life and his works and how his opinions drove his writings
Too many times!
In spite of this, I still,would purchase this book for my library as an excellent study of Gore Vidals life and his works and how his opinions drove his writings
February 6, 2017
Gore Vidal - is one of my favorite writers, so this biography I read in one breath. Though the writer denies some of the facts of his personal life, the book shows what actually was this man. He had an incredibly rich life: many friends, literary recognition, welfare. It was especially interesting to learn more about his life partner. Despite the fact that sexual relations between them ended early, I believe that Howard Auster was the strong attachment Vidal's. For me it's one of the best biographies of the great writer!
October 12, 2015
By no means a comprehensive biography of the prolific author, essayist and celebrity, Teeman's book fills in the gossipy parts left out of longer more serious accounts of Vidal's life. Yes, it's salacious, and repetitive, and not even chronological, but fascinating nonetheless. Fans of Vidal should read the more thorough biography by Fred Kaplan, and Vidal's own memoirs first. You'll then be able to read what was left out of other accounts of this fascinating man's life.
February 5, 2016
Teeman shines the spotlight on the 'uncategorizable bisexual' Vidal who believed in gay acts, not gay people. He focuses on Vidal's sex life, attitude toward love, and the his 53 year relationship with Howard Austen through interviews and writings of friends and enemies, as well as Vidal own words, works, and essays.
April 5, 2014
Not nearly as salacious, or interesting, as I thought it would be. The author needed a good editor. I found it endlessly repetitive. It should have been a New Yorker article, rather than a whole book.
September 18, 2015
Rambling, repetitious and not very interesting. It could have been a good long magazine article but there is no book here. This is not a very nice man, deeply conflicted and I disagree with him about nearly everything everything.
September 7, 2016
Overlong, dry, repetitive. Should have been a Vanity Fair article.
July 19, 2014
Seemed to be a pastiche of what has already been written about Vidal. Much of the information seemed familiar. Finally got through it.
March 22, 2018
I have nothing but contempt for the author's opinions on his life, Vidal's own quotes were much more illuminating.
August 9, 2017
Teenan's book is a salacious look at Gore Vidal and how he understood his own sexuality. Using sources who knew him and a wealth of Gore's own writing Teenan tries to understand his contrary nature in the face of the identity politics movements of the 1960s and 1970s. A fun, light, gossipy book for anyone interested in Vidal's life.
"He had an absolute distaste for identity politics," says Altman." 51
"I am exactly as I appear. There is no warm, lovable person inside. Beneath my cold exterior, once you break the ice, you find cold water." 52
"He was like a contemporary Suetonius, giving equal time to the dry political drama and the unspeakable sexual gossip." 58
"For Vidal, sex and storytelling were intimately linked." 87
"Trying to make categories is very American, very stupid and very dangerous," Vidal said that categories led ultimately to the nazi doctrine of "We don't like your category." 89
"To crest categories is the enslavement of the categorized because the aim of every state is total control over the people who live in it. What better way is there than to categorize according to sex, about which people have so many hang ups?" 91
"The instant lie was Truman's art form." 175
"He had an absolute distaste for identity politics," says Altman." 51
"I am exactly as I appear. There is no warm, lovable person inside. Beneath my cold exterior, once you break the ice, you find cold water." 52
"He was like a contemporary Suetonius, giving equal time to the dry political drama and the unspeakable sexual gossip." 58
"For Vidal, sex and storytelling were intimately linked." 87
"Trying to make categories is very American, very stupid and very dangerous," Vidal said that categories led ultimately to the nazi doctrine of "We don't like your category." 89
"To crest categories is the enslavement of the categorized because the aim of every state is total control over the people who live in it. What better way is there than to categorize according to sex, about which people have so many hang ups?" 91
"The instant lie was Truman's art form." 175
August 20, 2018
Somewhat foreshadowing a time of complex sexual roles, Gore nevertheless betrayed the people he also led out of the closet by publishing the first openly homosexual and trans books in late 40s and 50s. He never assumes the role as leader of the ragtag crew and instead tries to crawl back in the closet by claiming he's bisexual which is of course poppycock. He betrays his lover of over fifty years by never acknowledging him as such. Perhaps most absurdly he expects to win Congressional office political races as the author of Myra Breckenridge and then holds a grudge about losing the rest of his life.
Gore should have assumed the mantle of an LGBT leager from one of America's top families and used that to advance our rights in the fight for AIDS funding, marriage, and all the rest, but he preferred to cut it down from behind by saying there's no such thing as a gay identity.
The book is useful in delineating these points and helping understand Vidal's character and history through various eras, but it is not salacious, and its basic theory is established right away and never veered from, so it should just be enjoyed as an amble through a remarkable, conflicted man's life.
Gore should have assumed the mantle of an LGBT leager from one of America's top families and used that to advance our rights in the fight for AIDS funding, marriage, and all the rest, but he preferred to cut it down from behind by saying there's no such thing as a gay identity.
The book is useful in delineating these points and helping understand Vidal's character and history through various eras, but it is not salacious, and its basic theory is established right away and never veered from, so it should just be enjoyed as an amble through a remarkable, conflicted man's life.
September 4, 2020
The bi-phobia and bi-erasure in this book is palpable. Tim Teeman is obsessed with trying to force his argument of Vidal was a gay man based on speculation of the amount of men he had sex with and Howard Austen being his life partner. But he wasn't a homosexual, he was a bisexual who eschewed sexual identity labels and was a complex personality with a deep intellect.
The only readers who would appreciate this book are bi-phobes who want confirmation bias that Vidal was gay.
The only readers who would appreciate this book are bi-phobes who want confirmation bias that Vidal was gay.
May 2, 2019
The smutty tidbits are interesting, but this book is barely readable. Information is repeated over and over and over again - sometimes within only a page or two. I gave up after 150 pages or so because it was like listening to the messy ramblings of a drunk person.
Editors: They're your friends.
Editors: They're your friends.
October 6, 2017
What a fascinating character! Interesting read that was recommended by Jay Perini who wrote Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal.
April 14, 2019
"To be or not to be"
Gay or not Gay. Over and over. BORING. Way too much explaining why "To be or not to be." Describing his issue of admitting or not was redundant.
Gay or not Gay. Over and over. BORING. Way too much explaining why "To be or not to be." Describing his issue of admitting or not was redundant.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews