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Gore Vidal | Writer Against the Grain

Gore Vidal has been one of America's most distinct voices for more than half a century. The author of more than 20 novels, hundreds of essays, and several plays for screen and stage, Vidal is perhaps best known for the eloquent and witheringly sarcastic political commentatary that has made him a darling of the American left.<br><br> This recording from the 2009 Key West Literary Seminar consists of an hourlong conversation between Vidal and Jay Parini, his literary executor, a poet, biographer, and critic. Vidal discusses the influences on his work as a historical novelist, his views on the American educational system, and his admiration for American figures including Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The presidential contest between Barack Obama and John McCain is also discussed, while George W. Bush, serving his final week in office, is the target of particular scorn. Vidal's litany of complaints accuses the Bush administration of &quot;shredding&quot; the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and basic tenets of the Magna Carta, while striving &quot;to make lying the national pastime.&quot;

Posted by Arlo Haskell on July 3, 2009 3:11 PM

<em>Plausible Presence:</em><br>a conversation with Thomas Mallon

In this installment of our ongoing interview series, Thomas Mallon talks about Fellow Travelers, the rumors of Senator McCarthy's own homosexuality, and the current state of historical fiction, including works by Gore Vidal and William Kennedy, both of whom will join Mallon in January 2009 during our 27th annual Seminar, Historical Fiction and The Search for Truth.

Posted by Arlo Haskell on September 2, 2008 2:35 PM

<i>The past is never dead. It's not even past.</i>

In a coincidence too strange to pass up, Barack Obama's speech on race in America yesterday borrows the same fragment of William Faulkner that we've been using to promote next year's theme of Historical Fiction and The Search For Truth....

Posted by Arlo Haskell on March 19, 2008 1:02 PM