City Arts & Lectures: Gore Vidal November 15, 2006

Celebrated novelist, essayist, and critic Gore Vidal has been a vital American cultural figure for over sixty years. A versatile writer, Vidal is esteemed for his sharp commentary on politics, sex, religion, and literature. Vidal's groundbreaking novel The City and the Pillar, published in 1948, deals candidly with homosexual themes. The author's well-known fiction includes a series of historical works based on American political figures, from the Revolutionary era to the present. His several humorous novels satirizing contemporary culture include Myra Breckinridge, a transsexual comedy that draws on themes of sex, gender, and the movies. Vidal has been called the finest essayist of the twentieth century and was awarded the National Book Award in 1993 for the essay collection United States (1952-1992). He is also the author of the two memoirs about his eventful life: Palimpsest and most recently Point-to-Point Navigation. Vidal always addresses his subjects with humor and clarity.

In conversation with Scott Shafer

Official Website: http://www.cityarts.net/n.vidal.html