VVHY DOES EVERYONE
LOVE TO HATE GORE VIDAL?
Never before in recent history has any writer been so scorned, shunned, over–
looked- and infrequently praised- as Gore Vidal.
Here. celebrated critic Jay Parini takes on the enigma of this vastly misunder·
stood writer. ltalo Calvino. William H. Pritchard. Samuel Pickering. Catharine R.
Stimpson. James Tatum. Harold Bloom. and Louis Auchincloss are just a few of the
twenty essayists Parini has gathered to examine. celebrate. chide. and recall the
scope of the Vidal oeuvre. Combined with a revealing recent interview with Vidal
himself. they try to answer the question:
Why does everyone love
to
hate Gore Vidal?
WRITER AGAINST THE GRAIN
edited by Jay Parini
389
pp.•
$29.95· At Better Bookstores
~
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