The wait has allowed the author, whose friendship with Vidal began in the 1980s, to produce a portrait that is both affectionate and balanced.' Given Vidal's sensitivity to any slight, real or imagined, Parini wisely declined an offer that he write his story during his lifetime. 'The problem, ' he writes, 'was that nobody assumed this role.' But in this book he essentially did.' Parini says he was relieved to discover that this burdensome task had not been left to him. Parini says he didn't want to write a memoir of his friendship with Vidal, it's when he does so that Empire of Self is at its finest. It's like, for a time, enjoying Gore's priceless company again.

'The incomparable wit, the literary genius, the dazzling friends, the staggering output, the politics, the sex, the drink, the dreadful mother and the awful last days-it's all here. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. This is the biography Gore Vidal-novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, historian, wit, provocateur, and pioneer of gay rights-has long needed. Provided with unique access to Vidal's life and his papers, Parini excavates many buried skeletons yet never loses sight of his deep respect for Vidal and his astounding gifts. Jay Parini crafts Vidal's life into an accessible, entertaining story that puts the experience of one of the great American figures of the postwar era into context, introduces the author and his works to a generation who may not know him, and looks behind the scenes at the man and his work in ways never possible before his death. The life of Gore Vidal teemed with notable incidents, famous people, and lasting achievements that call out for careful evocation and examination. Buckley, Norman Mailer, Truman Capote, and The New York Times, among other adversaries. Also a generous helping of feuds with the likes of William F.

But there is plenty of glittering surface as well-a virtual Who's Who of the twentieth century, from Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart through the Kennedys, Johnny Carson, Leonard Bernstein, and the creme de la creme of Hollywood. The product of thirty years of friendship and conversation, Jay Parini's Empire of Self digs behind the glittering surface of Gore Vidal's colorful career to reveal the complex emotional and sexual truths underlying his celebrity-strewn life.

An intimate, authorized yet totally frank biography of Gore Vidal (1925-2012), one of the most accomplished, visible, and controversial American novelists and cultural figures of the past century

Empire of Self by Jay Parini