Key West Literary Seminars - Our Man in Boston

Back Matter • The Oracular Vidal

Though well represented in print, most recently with Jay Parini’s edit of The Selected Essays of Gore Vidal, the oracular Vidal seems glaringly overlooked by the buzzing, blooming noise/newsmakers bleating for our attention. Which makes his 2009 conversation with Parini (Vidal’s designated literary executor) all the more valuable—especially as it was produced by the inestimable Key West Literary Seminars. Gore Vidal, you should know, has written seven plays, countless essays, and more than 25 novels, of which the Empire series (Burr, Lincoln, 1876, Empire, Hollywood, and The Golden Age) lucidly parallel America’s history. To note, his 1993 collection United States: Essays 1952-1992 won that year’s National Book Award. —Robert Birnbaum, Aug. 12, 2009

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About Our Man in Boston

When Robert Birnbaum was an adolescent, his mother took him to the Chicago Public Library every week, and he would leave with armloads of books. Ever since he has been an avid reader—except in the cultural sinkhole era of the ’70s (think Saturday Night Fever).

Illustration by Witold Ridel

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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Back Matter • The Oracular Vidal

Discuss This • Tweet this • Post to Facebook • FILE UNDER: Awards, Back Matter, Essays, Gore Vidal, Jay Parini, Key West Literary Seminars, National Book Award

About Our Man in Boston

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