Armageddon? Essays 1983-1987

by Gore Vidal

Vidal, Gore. Armageddon ? - Essays 1983-1987. London, Andre Deutsch, 1987. Octavo. VIII, 244 pages. Original Hardcover with illustrated dustjacket in protective Mylar. Near Fine condition with only minor signs of external wear. Includes for example the following Frederic The European Connection / Tennessee Someone to Laugh at the Squares with / Richard Not The Best Man's Best Man / by Andrew Kopkind / etc.

Genres: Essays

243 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1940

About the author

Works of American writer Eugene Luther Gore Vidal, noted for his cynical humor and his numerous accounts of society in decline, include the play The Best Man (1960) and the novel Myra Breckinridge (1968) .

People know his essays, screenplays, and Broadway.
They also knew his patrician manner, transatlantic accent, and witty aphorisms. Vidal came from a distinguished political lineage; his grandfather was the senator Thomas Gore, and he later became a relation (through marriage) to Jacqueline Kennedy.

Vidal, a longtime political critic, ran twice for political office. He was a lifelong isolationist Democrat. The Nation, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Review of Books, and Esquire published his essays.

Essays and media appearances long criticized foreign policy. In addition, he from the 1980s onwards characterized the United States as a decaying empire. Additionally, he was known for his well publicized spats with such figures as Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley, Jr., and Truman Capote.

They fell into distinct social and historical camps. Alongside his social, his best known historical include Julian, Burr, and Lincoln. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948), outraged conservative critics as the first major feature of unambiguous homosexuality.

At the time of his death he was the last of a generation of American writers who had served during World War II, including J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer and Joseph Heller. Perhaps best remembered for his caustic wit, he referred to himself as a "gentleman bitch" and has been described as the 20th century's answer to Oscar Wilde

Also used the pseudonym Edgar Box.

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Gore Vidal é um dos nomes centrais na história da literatura americana pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Nascido em 1925, em Nova Iorque, estudou na Academia de Phillips Exeter (Estado de New Hampshire). O seu primeiro romance, Williwaw (1946), era uma história da guerra claramente influenciada pelo estilo de Hemingway. Embora grande parte da sua obra tenha a ver com o século XX americano, Vidal debruçou-se várias vezes sobre épocas recuadas, como, por exemplo, em A Search for the King (1950), Juliano (1964) e Creation (1981).

Entre os seus temas de eleição está o mundo do cinema e, mais concretamente, os bastidores de Hollywood, que ele desmonta de forma satírica e implacável em títulos como Myra Breckinridge (1968), Myron (1975) e Duluth (1983).

Senhor de um estilo exuberante, multifacetado e sempre surpreendente, publicou, em 1995, a autobiografia Palimpsest: A Memoir. As obras 'O Instituto Smithsonian' e 'A Idade do Ouro' encontram-se traduzidas em português.

Neto do senador Thomas Gore, enteado do padrasto de Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, primo distante de Al Gore, Gore Vidal sempre se revelou um espelho crítico das grandezas e misérias dos EUA.

Faleceu a 31 de julho de 2012, aos 86 anos, na sua casa em Hollywood, vítima de pneumonia.

Reviews

[Alexandra Ionescu]

If I could give it 3.5, I would - but as such, I limit myself to three. I liked it - will read him again, in the search for the 4* experience. His pettiness is his downfall, as well as it is his mastery. I like it and dislike it, which is why I can't give him a 4*
Other than that I love the crisp irony, the condescending comments and the weirdly contemporary societal and political issues that come up in this book(let).

[Miles Isham]

I started the book finding Gore pretty unbearable and ended it thinking he is a bit of a hero. A real-life Zelig, Gore turns up at every important moment in history and is friends (or enemies) with absolutely everyone, seemingly from 1880 to the present. The name dropping is off the scale. Alongside this his reading of the world and especially America is tremendously honest and insightful. He knows how it is all going down. I enjoyed the political stuff more than the book reviews but it’s all a hoot.

[Karen-Leigh]

I started this book with some excitement only to be disappointed...I had already read most of the essays earlier in other books and places. The essays do not, themselves, disappoint and there were one or two new ones. I took the opportunity to underline all my favourite bits.

[Jay Rothermel]

Contains a great essay on Frederick Prokosch and the Jew-hating assult on Norman Podhoretz as an "Israeli fifth columnist." This edition contains Andrew Kopkind's defense of Vidal's scurrilous "antizionism."

[Ann Butler]

I've read these many times over the years. As I get older I realise how a bit more of a balanced view would be beneficial, but I can't fault his style.

[Paulette Butler]

I've read these many times over the years. As I get older I realise how a bit more of a balanced view would be beneficial, but I can't fault his style.

[Philip Demers]

Gore was such a gentleman.