Gore Vidal: Snapshots in History's Glare - Preview

is the author of twenty-five

novels, well over two hundred essays, eight plays, and not-even-he-knows how many television and movie scripts. He lives in California.

Image credits Jacket front: Arnold Newman/Getty Images. Jacket back: Collection Gore Vidal (bottom, right); all others Collection Gore Vidal/by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University. Page 1: Collection Gore Vidal/by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Pages 2–3: Collection Gore Vidal (top, right); all others Collection Gore Vidal/by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University. Page 6: Bernie Abramson/ MPTV (top, right); Photofest (center, right); all others David Sutton/MPTV. Page 7: Clockwise from top left, David Sutton/ MPTV; Bernie Abramson/MPTV; Photofest. Page 8: Collection Gore Vidal.

GoreVidal 500 illustrations in full color 272 pages, 8 1/2 x 10 7/8" Hardcover with jacket ISBN: 978-0-8109-5049-8 U.S. $40.00 Can. $51.99 U.K. £24.99 Autobiography Rights: World Pub month: October

to place an order

Please call your sales representative or Hachette Book Group at 800.759.0190 or fax 800.286.9471

to inquire abouT publicity

Please call 212.519.1232 or fax 212.366.0809

z Abrams 115 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 www.abramsbooks.com

U.S. $40.00

Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal

Snapshots in History’s Glare

Canada $51.99 U.K. £24.99

T

his book is Gore Vidal’s visual memoir of his remarkable and famously well-lived life. In

this collection of photographs, letters, manuscripts, and other selections from Vidal’s vast personal archives, readers are now escorted by one of America’s wittiest insiders into the Kennedys’ Camelot, as well as onto the set of Ben Hur, and into the private lives of Eleanor Roosevelt, Paul Newman, and Tennessee Williams, to name just a few.

Born into public life, here Vidal looks back on his days as an Army officer in WWII, his rise as a groundbreaking and controversial novelist, his years in Hollywood, his forays into the political arena, and his notoriously public triumphs and feuds. Written with Vidal’s legendary wit and literary elegance, this book reveals not only the personal reflections of one of the last of the great generation of American writers, but also a captivating social history of the twentieth century told by one of our great raconteurs.

A

lthough the war ended in 1945, I was not able to return to Europe until ’48, when I did for a long visit to London and Rome.

Here I am on the deck of a Dutch ship, en route.

On the far right I am standing in the garden of my English publisher John Lehman’s house in Egerton Crescent, London, with Christopher Isherwood and Lehman’s ballet-dancer friend Alexis Racine.

I was very soon back in Italy, and here we are not far from the American Academy on the Janiculum Hill. Seated at the left is the novelist-poet Frederic Prokosch and next to him the art collector Henry McIlhenny, and next to him, Tennessee Williams, whom I had just met. Also pictured is the composer Samuel Barber. That was the year that Tennessee bought a jeep, left over from the war, and we drove down to Naples through the ruins, a memento of the long battle by the American and British armies in the previous year, from Anzio to Rome. Tennessee was great company but an eccentric driver, who would announce from time to time, “I am for all practical purposes blind in one eye.” We survived.

A

lthough the war ended in 1945, I was not able to return to Europe until ’48, when I did for a long visit to London and Rome.

Here I am on the deck of a Dutch ship, en route.

On the far right I am standing in the garden of my English publisher John Lehman’s house in Egerton Crescent, London, with Christopher Isherwood and Lehman’s ballet-dancer friend Alexis Racine.

I was very soon back in Italy, and here we are not far from the American Academy on the Janiculum Hill. Seated at the left is the novelist-poet Frederic Prokosch and next to him the art collector Henry McIlhenny, and next to him, Tennessee Williams, whom I had just met. Also pictured is the composer Samuel Barber. That was the year that Tennessee bought a jeep, left over from the war, and we drove down to Naples through the ruins, a memento of the long battle by the American and British armies in the previous year, from Anzio to Rome. Tennessee was great company but an eccentric driver, who would announce from time to time, “I am for all practical purposes blind in one eye.” We survived.

H

ere are some of the books that I’ve published post-Williwaw. The City and the Pillar was successful around the world, and I lived off the income from that book for a long time. These books were all published

by E. P. Dutton, whose chief editor was Nicholas Wreden, a great and loyal friend during those occasionally stormy times for me and some of my books.

H

ere are some of the books that I’ve published post-Williwaw. The City and the Pillar was successful around the world, and I lived off the income from that book for a long time. These books were all published

by E. P. Dutton, whose chief editor was Nicholas Wreden, a great and loyal friend during those occasionally stormy times for me and some of my books.

S

uddenly Last Summer, which Tennessee came to me to ask me would I do it, not trusting Sam, I said I would but I would

write the script by myself. Next thing I know Spiegel has listed by my name Tennessee Williams himself, who did not contribute one line. But Tennessee was quite happy with the result, which was the most successful film based upon any of his plays. Here are some shots of Sam’s opening night party for Suddenly Last Summer—he was much better at organizing parties than any of the movies that went with them, and he was a master concierge, getting girls transported from one country to another country, one city to another city, and, indeed, from one sex to another—most of his life was involved in transport. Ars gratia artis.

S

uddenly Last Summer, which Tennessee came to me to ask me would I do it, not trusting Sam, I said I would but I would

write the script by myself. Next thing I know Spiegel has listed by my name Tennessee Williams himself, who did not contribute one line. But Tennessee was quite happy with the result, which was the most successful film based upon any of his plays. Here are some shots of Sam’s opening night party for Suddenly Last Summer—he was much better at organizing parties than any of the movies that went with them, and he was a master concierge, getting girls transported from one country to another country, one city to another city, and, indeed, from one sex to another—most of his life was involved in transport. Ars gratia artis.

J

ack wanted to have a shooting contest. Tennessee, in the opposite photograph, is staring at Jack and

muttering to me, “That boy has a nice ass.”

I replied, “Stop it, that’s the next President of the United States.” Tennessee said, “No, he’s not going to be the next President, because the American people hate with great violence attractiveness in anything, but particularly politicians.” Later, I told Jack about the compliment of his ass, and he said, “Why, that’s very exciting.”

The photo of the three of us posed side by side is one that Jackie thought would be great for a history book. And now you must regard the volume in your hands as Jackie’s history book, as well as mine.

The photo above shows Jack “gawking,” in Jackie’s words, as Tennessee hits bull’seye after bull’s-eye. Jack was not doing so well, and I pleaded blindness. It was a golden day in a golden era that had begun so well and would end so badly.

is the author of twenty-five

novels, well over two hundred essays, eight plays, and not-even-he-knows how many television and movie scripts. He lives in California.

Image credits Jacket front: Arnold Newman/Getty Images. Jacket back: Collection Gore Vidal (bottom, right); all others Collection Gore Vidal/by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University. Page 1: Collection Gore Vidal/by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Pages 2–3: Collection Gore Vidal (top, right); all others Collection Gore Vidal/by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University. Page 6: Bernie Abramson/ MPTV (top, right); Photofest (center, right); all others David Sutton/MPTV. Page 7: Clockwise from top left, David Sutton/ MPTV; Bernie Abramson/MPTV; Photofest. Page 8: Collection Gore Vidal.

GoreVidal 500 illustrations in full color 272 pages, 8 1/2 x 10 7/8" Hardcover with jacket ISBN: 978-0-8109-5049-8 U.S. $40.00 Can. $51.99 U.K. £24.99 Autobiography Rights: World Pub month: October

to place an order

Please call your sales representative or Hachette Book Group at 800.759.0190 or fax 800.286.9471

to inquire abouT publicity

Please call 212.519.1232 or fax 212.366.0809

z Abrams 115 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 www.abramsbooks.com

U.S. $40.00

Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal

Snapshots in History’s Glare

Canada $51.99 U.K. £24.99

T

his book is Gore Vidal’s visual memoir of his remarkable and famously well-lived life. In

this collection of photographs, letters, manuscripts, and other selections from Vidal’s vast personal archives, readers are now escorted by one of America’s wittiest insiders into the Kennedys’ Camelot, as well as onto the set of Ben Hur, and into the private lives of Eleanor Roosevelt, Paul Newman, and Tennessee Williams, to name just a few.

Born into public life, here Vidal looks back on his days as an Army officer in WWII, his rise as a groundbreaking and controversial novelist, his years in Hollywood, his forays into the political arena, and his notoriously public triumphs and feuds. Written with Vidal’s legendary wit and literary elegance, this book reveals not only the personal reflections of one of the last of the great generation of American writers, but also a captivating social history of the twentieth century told by one of our great raconteurs.