Introduction: Why is Gore Vidal important today?

Abstract

One of the most distinctive characteristics of Vidal is his diversity in his writings; his work ranged from novels to short stories, to plays and screenplays, and to essays and reviews. This is an interesting fact in his writing career because, as Vidal himself claimed in an interview, it is, to a certain extent, responsible for his exclusion from the academic world. However, this diversity in his writings should situate Vidal in an important place in American literature / culture in that a review of his output from the 1940s to 2000s might help us to look at American literary history and politics in different ways. Rather than looking at particular movements or techniques, we should look at him as someone who not only used the past to comment on the present, but believed in literature as a vehicle of political and social commentary. Surveying his work helps us to understand how American cultures have changed over the last six decades; as well as understanding something of Vidal’s public persona as a transmedial personality, a media celebrity who used different media – books, television and films – to communicate his views.