Always a nonconformist, Vidal had no time for college.

He made a credible run as a Democrat for Congress in an overwhelmingly Republican district in upstate New York. He wrote grand historical novels about the American republic turned empire. Vidal was kin to the American ruling class via the Kennedys. Perhaps he was joking, but he acted as if he meant it.Īnd why not? He had the credentials: He grew up reading Roman history to his blind grandfather, a senator from Oklahoma. After all, he did say that the world would be a much better place if only it would listen to him. This novelist, essayist, playwright and screenwriter, who saw himself in the days of live television as the king of hacks - as well as a scintillating guest on the David Susskind, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson talk shows - can easily be depicted as a narcissist. There we can see, by turns, the imperious Gore and the charming and friendly Gore - amusing and provocative, and also a kind of emperor, lording it over others. Compact Disc (October 13th, 2015): $118.The best parts of “Empire of Self” are the brief interludes between chapters, when we are in the moment with Gore Vidal and his friend Jay Parini.This is the biography Gore Vidal has long needed.

Provided with unique access to Vidal's life and his papers, he excavates many buried skeletons yet never loses sight of his deep respect for Vidal and his astounding gifts. Jay Parini crafts Vidal's life into an accessible, entertaining story that puts the experience of one of the great American figures of the postwar era into context, introduces the author and his works to a generation who may not know him, and looks behind the scenes at the man and his work in ways never possible before his death. But there is plenty of glittering surface as well-a virtual who's who of the American Century, from Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart through the Kennedys, Princess Margaret, and the creme de la creme of Hollywood.The life of Gore Vidal was an amazingly full one-full of colorful incident, famous people, and lasting achievements-that calls out for careful evocation and examination.

An intimate, authorized, yet frank biography of Gore Vidal (1925-2012), one of the most accomplished, visible, and controversial American novelists and cultural figures of the past century.The product of thirty years of friendship and conversation, Jay Parini's Empire of Self probes behind the glittering surface of Gore Vidal's colorful life to reveal the complex emotional and sexual truth underlying his celebrity-strewn life.

Empire of Self by Jay Parini