Gore Vidal (Identities and Issues in Literature)

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This versatile and controversial American novelist, dramatist, and essayist is a keen observer of the American scene. He is pessimistic about the future of his country, whose decline he analogizes, often subtly, with the late Roman Empire.

Along the way, Gore Vidal often allows his message, even strong beliefs, to have the better of his characterizations. There are exceptions to his cardboard personalities. For example, he fleshes out Jim Willard in The City and the Pillar as an average all-American boy who is confused in his journey to homosexual...

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