Gore Vidal was at best a snob, at worst a snot, depending on how you assess his patronizing demeanor. He looked and sounded patrician, but stopped short of being a dandy (witness his perennial gray pants and blue blazer). He was, however, a lot of other things, as two new biographies attest.
They are Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal by Jay Parini, his friend and literary executor, a responsible, solidly researched, traditional biography; and Michael Mewshaw’s Sympathy for the Devil: Four Decades of Friendship, breezier, sassier, more anecdotal. Taken together, as they should be, they constitute a fully rounded portrait of a witty, trenchant, mischievous, talented but often superficial and arrogant writer and man.
Compelling essayist but uneven fictionist, he did also have his good sides: loyalty to friends and generosity with money. Deluded as a would-be politician, he was a largely judicious critic and, it must be said, consummate liar.
What makes both books valuable is that, friendship notwithstanding, they remain objective, unswayed by amity, and, with novelist authors, exhibiting style, structure, and fluency not always given to mere biographers. Possessor of a murderous charm, Vidal emerges both smart and often irrational, egocentric but curious about others, and genuinely, though not selflessly, concerned with America’s present and future in a state of steady love-hate.
Deluded as a would-be politician, Vidal was a largely judicious critic and, it must be said, consummate liar.
Parini quotes a good deal
