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Screening History
Vidal intertwines fond recollections of films savored in the movie palaces of his Washington, DC, boyhood with strands of autobiography & trenchant observations about American politics. Never before has the renowned author revealed so much about his own life or written with such immediacy about the forces shaping America. 26 halftones.
110 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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About the author
Gore Vidal
422 books1,854 followersWorks 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.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
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.
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.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
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.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 14, 2014
Like virtually everything Vidal publishes, this book is a delight to read. At just over a hundred pages, I read it in one sitting.
Weaving personal recollections about himself and films he saw from age four through his service in WWII with asides to anecdotes about his political family and their illustrious associates, he tells the story of the transition of the United States from the republic it was to the national security empire it has become. Though the subject is serious, his treatment of it is light.
Weaving personal recollections about himself and films he saw from age four through his service in WWII with asides to anecdotes about his political family and their illustrious associates, he tells the story of the transition of the United States from the republic it was to the national security empire it has become. Though the subject is serious, his treatment of it is light.
December 5, 2011
I suppose that by 1992, when this was published, Gore Vidal having had a successful career as best-selling novelist, screenwriter and general bon vivant and gadfly, was at the point of life where he could toss off a lark like this with the assurance that at least some of it would be interesting. And it is. It is also something of an oddball mess.
The book is part memoir, part socio-political critique and part film survey. While individual passages in it are often insightful and elegantly rendered, the whole thing has a willy-nilly quality and often fails to hang together.
The book is broken into three lengthy sections that gravitate around three 1930s film classics that were central to Vidal's formative youth--The Prince and the Pauper, Fire Over England, and Young Mr. Lincoln. Vidal's love of movies morphed into the formation of his worldview about how events are changed, manipulated and simplified not just in movies but by governments and other institutions in order to indoctrinate and contain its citizenry.
As Vidal spins this ambitious personal narrative, we learn a lot about his young sheltered life among the eastern elites and his rather slow formation of a political consciousness. He, of course, comes off as the insufferable prig that he is, but that is not to say I don't like the guy. I do. He is, after all, one of the best political observers we have, and this book is best when Vidal waxes on issues such as the restrictions of the capitalistic national security state and the formation of our manufactured history. Vidal takes to task the "keepers of the national myths" for their maintenance of "the agreed-upon facts" and for insisting that our historical figures are either good and great or wrong and bad. It reminds me of Noam Chomsky's musings about "necessary illusions."
For all the complaints that have come about over the inaccuracy of Hollywood history, Vidal actually more or less comes to praise Tinseltown's mythmaking, concluding that is at least no worse than the kind of airbrushing that went on with the Bush administration/CNN presentation of the Gulf War, happening at the time of this book's creation. "Our genius for the metamorphosis of mere fact has achieved perfection," he wrote, not at all aware of the rise of Fox News. But more than once in this book Vidal is both consciously and unconsciously prophetic.
Some favorite passages from the book include:
"A current perjorative adjective is narcissistic. ...lately the adjective is often applied to those "liberals" who prefer to improve the lives of others rather than exploit them."
"It seemed to me as if there was a conspiracy not only to make one learn things that one did not want or need to know but, worse, to refuse to teach the things that one was eager to find out about."
"I have always found it curious that the two things a human being must cope with all his life, his body and his money, are never explained to him at school."
"From the beginning of my not-so-happy career as a dramatist, I was drawn to politics and to religion, the only two subjects that Bernard Shaw thought worth our attention and, of course, the two subjects absolutely forbidden us not only in the popular arts but in the public schools as well. Public schools do not give us our history; instead they try, nobly but futilely, to indoctrinate their charges in good citizenship. As each minority gains economic power, it is discussed in admiring terms."
There also is a marvelous anecdote Vidal tells about the making of his hard-edged political play, The Best Man into a movie in the early '60s, whereby it was almost bowdlerized by Frank Capra into a sappy populist morality play along the lines of the director's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Luckily for Vidal, he managed to get Capra dumped from the picture.
The book is a kind of curate's egg, not entirely of a piece but once broken and fried it makes for a temporarily satisfying sandwich.
The book is part memoir, part socio-political critique and part film survey. While individual passages in it are often insightful and elegantly rendered, the whole thing has a willy-nilly quality and often fails to hang together.
The book is broken into three lengthy sections that gravitate around three 1930s film classics that were central to Vidal's formative youth--The Prince and the Pauper, Fire Over England, and Young Mr. Lincoln. Vidal's love of movies morphed into the formation of his worldview about how events are changed, manipulated and simplified not just in movies but by governments and other institutions in order to indoctrinate and contain its citizenry.
As Vidal spins this ambitious personal narrative, we learn a lot about his young sheltered life among the eastern elites and his rather slow formation of a political consciousness. He, of course, comes off as the insufferable prig that he is, but that is not to say I don't like the guy. I do. He is, after all, one of the best political observers we have, and this book is best when Vidal waxes on issues such as the restrictions of the capitalistic national security state and the formation of our manufactured history. Vidal takes to task the "keepers of the national myths" for their maintenance of "the agreed-upon facts" and for insisting that our historical figures are either good and great or wrong and bad. It reminds me of Noam Chomsky's musings about "necessary illusions."
For all the complaints that have come about over the inaccuracy of Hollywood history, Vidal actually more or less comes to praise Tinseltown's mythmaking, concluding that is at least no worse than the kind of airbrushing that went on with the Bush administration/CNN presentation of the Gulf War, happening at the time of this book's creation. "Our genius for the metamorphosis of mere fact has achieved perfection," he wrote, not at all aware of the rise of Fox News. But more than once in this book Vidal is both consciously and unconsciously prophetic.
Some favorite passages from the book include:
"A current perjorative adjective is narcissistic. ...lately the adjective is often applied to those "liberals" who prefer to improve the lives of others rather than exploit them."
"It seemed to me as if there was a conspiracy not only to make one learn things that one did not want or need to know but, worse, to refuse to teach the things that one was eager to find out about."
"I have always found it curious that the two things a human being must cope with all his life, his body and his money, are never explained to him at school."
"From the beginning of my not-so-happy career as a dramatist, I was drawn to politics and to religion, the only two subjects that Bernard Shaw thought worth our attention and, of course, the two subjects absolutely forbidden us not only in the popular arts but in the public schools as well. Public schools do not give us our history; instead they try, nobly but futilely, to indoctrinate their charges in good citizenship. As each minority gains economic power, it is discussed in admiring terms."
There also is a marvelous anecdote Vidal tells about the making of his hard-edged political play, The Best Man into a movie in the early '60s, whereby it was almost bowdlerized by Frank Capra into a sappy populist morality play along the lines of the director's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Luckily for Vidal, he managed to get Capra dumped from the picture.
The book is a kind of curate's egg, not entirely of a piece but once broken and fried it makes for a temporarily satisfying sandwich.
February 18, 2016
Book Riot '15 Read Harder Challenge Task 10: Microhistory
I picked up this book at a second-hand shop, thinking that a book about the history of Hollywood as it relates to America as a whole would be a particularly interesting way to fill this category; a novelty, if nothing else, and a quick read in contrast to the meticulously researched volume I had originally selected.
I found myself thinking a little regretfully of all the nice citations and academically objective overviews that other book might've contained while reading this. It's not at all bad read, however, just very dense. I had a hard time keeping track of what or who was important and why, what was an insult and what was a joke, which war we were referring to, and if I'd ever heard of this movie/actor/political figure before. (It varied from vaguely to no.) An introduction wouldn't have gone amiss, maybe a few footnotes. But that would detract from the purpose of the volume. The anecdotes and opinions are interesting because they're the anecdotes of Gore Vidal; if you are so foolish as to pick up the volume without any idea of who Gore Vidal was (like I did), then you're obviously at the wrong party.
In such a case, the book reads very much like listening to a very interesting, very elder relative reflect on whatever crosses their mind, with startling glimpses of History and occasional interesting perspectives mixed in with my friend such-a-one whose first wife was dancer. He married a politician's daughter after the divorce, ahh he never did have much sense. (Haha?) Anyway, what you have to understand is back then we didn't xy like you do today...
This is partially due to the age of the films he references (he only gets up to stars like Bette Midler halfway through, if that gives you a reference), partially due to the political commentary (if my movie history wasn't up to snuff my knowledge of Depression era politicians was positively shameful), and partially due to the time, culture, and social climate he relates.
I simply don't recognize the landscape of America he describes. This is especially disorienting because the book isn't about introducing this landscape, it's about dissecting and deconstructing it while offering ironic reflections , so you're really expected to show up ready and raring.
Perhaps an interesting history review for those who already know the material.
I picked up this book at a second-hand shop, thinking that a book about the history of Hollywood as it relates to America as a whole would be a particularly interesting way to fill this category; a novelty, if nothing else, and a quick read in contrast to the meticulously researched volume I had originally selected.
I found myself thinking a little regretfully of all the nice citations and academically objective overviews that other book might've contained while reading this. It's not at all bad read, however, just very dense. I had a hard time keeping track of what or who was important and why, what was an insult and what was a joke, which war we were referring to, and if I'd ever heard of this movie/actor/political figure before. (It varied from vaguely to no.) An introduction wouldn't have gone amiss, maybe a few footnotes. But that would detract from the purpose of the volume. The anecdotes and opinions are interesting because they're the anecdotes of Gore Vidal; if you are so foolish as to pick up the volume without any idea of who Gore Vidal was (like I did), then you're obviously at the wrong party.
In such a case, the book reads very much like listening to a very interesting, very elder relative reflect on whatever crosses their mind, with startling glimpses of History and occasional interesting perspectives mixed in with my friend such-a-one whose first wife was dancer. He married a politician's daughter after the divorce, ahh he never did have much sense. (Haha?) Anyway, what you have to understand is back then we didn't xy like you do today...
This is partially due to the age of the films he references (he only gets up to stars like Bette Midler halfway through, if that gives you a reference), partially due to the political commentary (if my movie history wasn't up to snuff my knowledge of Depression era politicians was positively shameful), and partially due to the time, culture, and social climate he relates.
I simply don't recognize the landscape of America he describes. This is especially disorienting because the book isn't about introducing this landscape, it's about dissecting and deconstructing it while offering ironic reflections , so you're really expected to show up ready and raring.
Perhaps an interesting history review for those who already know the material.
July 7, 2013
It's a mess. Did he write it to fulfill the terms of a book deal? His pompous tone and the verbosity seems so out of date now that we have such talented writers writing about politics, still there's some entertaining bits amongst the windbaggery.
May 23, 2021
Gore Vidal is always an entertaining and interesting writer, but my, he is full of himself. I bought this some years ago in a secondhand bookshop. An interest in cinema, history and Vidal, why not? Well, it is interesting, enjoyable and a quick read and some important points, but cinema is just a launchpad for bigger ideas. Writing in 1992, he was already articulating the issue of false narratives. Interestingly, he references Thomas Jefferson as liking the phrase 'true facts', so not a recent concept. Some of his favourite films, mostly from childhood as defining the way he sees the world, are used as indicators of the manipulation of the American public, and not just the obvious, but larger scale enterprises, ensuring American public empathy with England through period dramas to ensure the US citizenry were prepared to enter WW2 in support. Pearl Harbour fixed that one. Vidal also points out that while Hollywood was eager to make films of other peoples' histories, it seldom tackled its own and when it did, and to paraphrase John Ford, it filmed the legend; history is invented or reinforced mythically and not with analysis of facts that don't fit America's image of itself. I wonder what he would make of the last 5 years.
February 20, 2025
I’ve read many Gore Vidal books and loved them all. He’s a marvelous writer with unique points of view. His novels have always been enlightening experiences that make you think. I find those to be the best kind of books. They can change your whole mindset.
In this book Gore Vidal talks about growing up enthralled with the movies. It colored his sense of reality. He admits this. But is this such an unusual thing?
He points out that what we know (especially about history) is based on media. Television, books, films. Everything is some kind of propaganda or fiction. He mentions the myth of Abraham Lincoln. The famous president’s idealization does not match up with many things we now know about him. Vidal’s apprehension even extends to things we witness ourselves as they rarely tell the whole story.
Vidal knows politics rather well. Both his father and grandfather were insiders and he ran for office at one point as well. He claims that most people are blind to what really goes on. When he talks about politics it’s worth listening.
Many describe Vidal as an acerbic wit. He ended up in many famous feuds and was known as a misanthrope. However, he also speaks the truth.
In this book Gore Vidal talks about growing up enthralled with the movies. It colored his sense of reality. He admits this. But is this such an unusual thing?
He points out that what we know (especially about history) is based on media. Television, books, films. Everything is some kind of propaganda or fiction. He mentions the myth of Abraham Lincoln. The famous president’s idealization does not match up with many things we now know about him. Vidal’s apprehension even extends to things we witness ourselves as they rarely tell the whole story.
Vidal knows politics rather well. Both his father and grandfather were insiders and he ran for office at one point as well. He claims that most people are blind to what really goes on. When he talks about politics it’s worth listening.
Many describe Vidal as an acerbic wit. He ended up in many famous feuds and was known as a misanthrope. However, he also speaks the truth.
January 23, 2018
You can get most of the same information by watching Vidal's interviews on YouTube. This is a disjointed memoir that tries to incorporate the importance of film in Gore's upbringing and professional life.
June 25, 2019
Superb. An account of his life, through movies. Superb prose and language .
November 3, 2023
Screening History (1992) is the published form of Gore Vidal’s Massey Lectures at Harvard University, where he discussed films and the role they played in history. Part memoir, part film analysis, part historical lecture, these three essays encompass a wide range of topics. Vidal’s passion for movies started when he was a young boy growing up in Washington, D.C. as the grandson of a U.S. Senator and step-son to a wealthy businessman. He discusses the impact of the Great Depression and World War II on the film industry, especially in the ways in which it was used for propagandistic purposes. He also returns to a common theme among his larger body of work: the shaping of memory. Our memories are constantly in flux, Vidal argues, and our interactions with film, television, or literature molds our historical, political, and personal recollections. The last lecture on the cultural impact of Abraham Lincoln was my personal favorite, wherein Vidal discusses his relationship to the historical figure via film and history as well as discusses how education could be improved in the United States. He argues that history should be the “spine” of all curriculum, starting with the origin of the universe and going towards today, integrating all other subjects around historical knowledge. As someone who has been interested in history my entire life, this approach seems more than effective at teaching our future generations. While Screening History is a short volume, it is an excellent snapshot of Gore Vidal and his numerous insights into culture, history, and politics.
April 14, 2012
Still going through my Gore Vidal home collection. When I read Screening History a few years ago I didn't get much out of it. A second reading convinces me it's a gem--though not a good introduction to GV. Part memoir part film fan, the book discusses what is history, what is reality, who and what creates both, and its ultimate uses. a topic explored in more depth in GV's Hollywood. While reading it I thought of James Ellroy's Underworld Trilogy, which seems much more realistic and historically accurate than "official" history. BTW, I always suspected that all those British historical dramas of the late 1930s were propaganda to get us involved in Europe. They were. The final chapter, Lincoln, puts it all together.
March 31, 2013
I love his writing...he's cynical, beyond witty, persuasive...just so much that I like...I even love how he criticizes. It is a light, fast reading book...but for those of us Vidal-a-files....it's a fun read.
May 3, 2007
A fun look at how Americans learn history: through the movies.
June 26, 2009
A fleeting, thoroughly esoteric account of Mr. Vidal's moviegoing from boyhood 'til 1991, or so. With special emphasis on the laughable stories that pass for history in Hollywood.
November 28, 2015
POT BOILER
November 16, 2019
I love his voice, his views, his use of language.
August 29, 2015
"In the end, he who screens the history makes the history"
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews