Visit to a Small Planet and Other Television Plays

by Gore Vidal

Life magazine recently stated: "With a precocious total of eight successful novels, Gore Vidal, a skilled hand at realism and fantasy, has turned out a fistful of strikingly adventurous television plays."

Adventurous they are indeed, as several million viewers will remember with pleasure. Eight of Mr. Vidal's unique plays are printed here in a reading format that is considerably simpler than the published form of the average stage play, and it is a good bet that anyone picking the volume up will find it hard to put down. On paper as on the television screen, these stories have an unusual impact, and their range of subject and tone is extraordinarily wide.

Included are Visit to a Small Planet, which Newsweek said "should be a leading candidate for the year's best TV-play awards," and which has since been metamorphosed into a Broadway play; Smoke and Barn Burning adaptations of two of William Faulkner's best stories; The Turn of the Screw, a TV version of Henry James's celebrated psychological ghost tale; and four other original dramas, including the memorably chilling Dark Possession and The Death of Billy the Kid, of which a movie version was released during 1957. Contains a foreword by the author.

278 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1956

About the author

Gore Vidal was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, playwright and political commentator known for his sharp wit, provocative opinions and criticism of American society. Raised in Washington, D.C., he attended several preparatory schools before graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1943. His maternal grandfather, Thomas Pryor Gore, a Democratic senator from Oklahoma, profoundly influenced his early interest in politics. During World War II, Vidal served in the United States Army and worked aboard a supply ship in the Aleutian Islands. His experiences inspired his first novel, Williwaw (1946), published shortly after his military service.
Vidal attracted controversy with The City and the Pillar (1948), one of the early American novels to portray male homosexuality openly. Its subject provoked conservative critics and established his reputation as a writer willing to challenge prevailing social conventions. He subsequently explored different genres, writing novels, plays, essays and screenplays. His stage comedy Visit to a Small Planet became a theatrical success, while his work in Hollywood included contributions to the screenplay for Ben-Hur (1959).
His historical novels brought him particular recognition. Julian (1964) examined the Roman emperor's attempt to restore paganism, while Burr (1973) and Lincoln (1984) offered fictional interpretations of American political history. Myra Breckinridge (1968), a provocative satire of Hollywood and gender conventions, further demonstrated his willingness to challenge cultural assumptions. His later historical fiction included 1876, Empire and Hollywood, forming part of his broader exploration of American power and national identity.
Vidal was equally influential as an essayist and public intellectual. His collections addressed American foreign policy, religion, sexuality and the political establishment. United States: Essays 1952-1992 won the National Book Award in 1993. His memoir Palimpsest (1995) offered personal reflections on his family, relationships and literary career. Vidal also became famous for televised confrontations with conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr. during the 1968 presidential election coverage. Their bitter exchanges made him a prominent figure in American political debate.
His political involvement extended beyond commentary. He ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in New York in 1960 and for the United States Senate in California in 1982. He later chaired the People's Party and remained an outspoken critic of American militarism, corporate influence and the expansion of executive power. His views frequently placed him at odds with political leaders and fellow intellectuals, including writer Norman Mailer.
Vidal spent much of his later life in Italy before returning to the United States. He continued writing essays, novels and memoirs into his final years, maintaining his reputation for intellectual independence and irreverence. His work examined the relationship between private ambition and public power, often questioning conventional accounts of American history. He died in 2012, leaving a substantial literary legacy spanning fiction, political criticism and cultural commentary.