Gore Vidal

"These are my only friends -- (gestures at a copy of TOME) -- grown-up nerds like Gore Vidal. And even he's kissed more boys than I ever will!"

—Lisa Simpson

Gore Vidal is a novelist, essayist, and playwright whose career has spanned sixty years, beginning in the years immediately following World War II and continuing into the early phase of the new millennium. In the world of literature, he is best known for his breakthrough work The City and the Pillar, the first post-war novel to feature a Homosexual protagonist who isn't bumped off at the end of the story. A quarter-century later, Vidal began penning a series of historical novels based on the formulative years of the United States, including a third-person account of President Lincoln which met with high accolades.

Best known by a later generation as procreator of two dubious cinematic efforts, Myra Brekinridge and Caligula. Vidal tried disowning the latter, but his lawyers moved too slowly and thus his screen credit remains.

Nevertheless, he did appear in a fake trailer for a Caligula remake, so at least he's a good sport about it.

Vidal was politically active throughout The Fifties and Sixties, appearing on television as a spokesman for the "New Left" and sharing a panel with his ideological opposite William F. Buckley Jr. This arrangement didn't last long, as their exchanges became increasingly heated until Buckley threatened to smack him in the face on-air.

Gore Vidal provides examples of the following tropes:

• Ambiguously Jewish: He has speculated that the Vidals might be Jewish in origin. "Vidal" is the translation of the Hebrew Chayim or Hayim ("Life" in Hebrew); many Jews assumed it as their family name to avoid persecution.
• Bi the Way
• Big Screwed-Up Family: Lampshaded this by calling divorce is a Gore family tradition.

"...The Marriages of My Family proved a reliable, unbreakable prophylactic."

• Blood on the Debate Floor: Calling William F. Buckley a "crypto-Nazi" on live TV, nearly resulting in the two men coming to blows.
• Bourgeois Bohemian
• Brutal Honesty
• Grumpy Old Man: As any interviewer will attest.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: A French reviewer, apropos an autobiography of Anaïs Nin, dismissed him as "a talentless gigolo." Gore, tongue firmly in-cheek, threatened to bring suit only because she implied he "had no talent as a gigolo."
• Insistent Terminology: Historical scholarship = "Agreed-upon facts".
• Old Shame: Any film of his work. Thus far, the only adaptation to be made his way is The Best Man (1964) starring Henry Fonda.
  • Myra Brekinridge was such a phenomenal bomb that the book stopped selling for a decade. Director Michael Sarne later got a job as a waiter in a pizza place, which according to Vidal "proves that God exists and there is such a thing as Divine Symmetry."
  • He sued to have his name taken off of Caligula. The cut reviewed by Roger Ebert claimed to be "Adapted from an Original Screenplay by Gore Vidal".
• Religion Is Wrong
• Sophisticated As Hell
• With Friends Like These...: With Norman Mailer, who headbutted him backstage at The Dick Cavett Show. Despite numerous public feuds, the pair remained amicable.
• Word of Gay: Gore Vidal intended Messala in Ben-Hur to be Ben Hur's spurned lover, thus explaining his hatred for him later on. Stephen Boyd (the actor who played Messala) was let in on the secret, but Charlton Heston was deliberately kept in the dark.

Partial Bibliography & Related Tropes

• Julian (1964)
  • Anachronic Order
  • Badass Beard: Subverted with Julian, who insists on combing his long beard into a point (Everyone tells him it looks ridiculous).
  • The Caligula: Gallus in Julian is depicted throughout the novel as a sociopath who delights in others' pain.
  • The Chains of Commanding: Constantius.
  • Dirty Old Man: Priscus has an eye for the ladies.
  • Got Volunteered: Literally in the case of Julian, who is offered a choice between declaring himself Caesar of Gaul, or being murdered by said Gauls. It's unclear whether or not Julian is embellishing events to disguise his ambition.
  • Incest Is Relative / Unholy Matrimony: Gallus and Constantina.
  • Make It Look Like an Accident: Julian is killed by one of his own soldiers, who makes it appear as if he was felled by an enemy Persian's spear.
  • No Hero Discount: The 'margin notes' repeatedly note Priscus' exorbitant fees in exchange for pages from Julian's memoir.
  • Off with His Head: Gallus' punishment for insulting Constantius.
  • Phony Psychic: Maximus.
  • Religion Is Wrong: Julian focuses on the eponymous Emperor's (failed) attempt to stem the rising tide of Christianity in Rome. (Vidal himself is a lifelong atheist.)
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Libanius and Priscus.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: One of the more entertaining sides of Julian is a scathing letter exchange between Libanius and his collaborator Priscus, who is busy covering his posterior (and his wallet).
  • Unreliable Narrator: Julian's deference to the facts of his own life are spotty. His transcribers step in from time to time to fix any inconsistencies.

• The Best Man (1964)
  • Dark Horse Victory: In the play (and subsequent film) The Best Man, a bitterly contested fight for a party's Presidential nomination ends when one of the candidates withdraws and throws his support behind a previously-ignored third man.
  • The Fettered: William Russell.
  • Kingmaker Scenario: Inverted in the ending of The Best Man, in which two presidential candidates, (Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson) are tied in their race for the nomination. Fonda's idealist, unwilling to falsely smear Robertson's crooked politico as a homosexual in order to win -- yet also unwilling to let Robertson claim victory by twisting some facts related Fonda's medical history -- throws his support to the dark horse candidate who has been mired in third place throughout the balloting, who goes on to win.
  • Prophetic Name: Joe Cantwell.
  • Sleazy Politician: Cantwell is an acknowledged strawman of Richard Nixon.
  • To Be Lawful or Good

• Myra Brekinridge (1968)
  • Gender Bender: Myra's true identity is that of a male film critic who underwent a sex change.
  • Double Standard Rape (Female on Male)
  • Refuge in Audacity
  • Unusual Euphemism: Myron, the follow-up book Myra Brekinridge. In the original version of the book, Vidal replaces all the swear words with the names of Supreme Court Justices who had just voted in favour of some pro-censorship measure or other. So we have Burger = bugger, Father Hill = tit, Rehnquist = dick and so on (This was done to avert the book's censorship.)

• American Chronicles (aka Narratives of Empire) series (1973-2000)
  • Achey Scars: Jess Smith's appendectomy scar. It aches whenever somebody is sniffing around his operations.
  • Aluminum Christmas Trees: Holluwood caught negative reviews for inventing a female newspaper publisher in 1939; however, Vidal was quick to point out that Eleanor Patterson took control of a D.C. paper less than twenty years later.
  • Antagonist in Mourning: Woodrow Wilson's nemesis, Henry Cabot Lodge, doesn't know what to do with himself once Wilson is deposed and living out his last days on S Street.
  • Big Screwed-Up Family: The Sanfords.
  • Bus Crash: Clay Overbury in The Golden Age.
  • Casanova: John Hay, Lincoln's aide and confidante, is a self-styled one.
  • Comically Missing the Point: The Senate Majority Leader, Henry Cabot Lodge, is shattered when he learns of Warren Harding's death. When asked if they were close, Lodge says of course not; he's upset that Calvin Coolidge is now President.
  • Da Editor: Caroline Sanford and her brother, Blaise.
  • Deadpan Snarker: When Eleanor Roosevelt returns from seeing the doctor, FDR wheels past and jokingly asks "What did he have to say about that big ass of yours?" Without pausing, Eleanor replies "I'm afraid you weren't mentioned."
  • Driven to Suicide: Burden, after Overbury throws him under the proverbial bus.
  • Eagle Land
  • Environmental Symbolism: Woodrow Wilson's White House is an ice palace, with padlocked fences and all activity concentrated in a tiny upstairs study. Contrast with Harding, whose White House is open to the public and exudes warmth. By the end of the novel, though, it becomes as chilled and empty as it was under his predecessor.
  • Foregone Conclusion: Harding's inexorable rise to the Presidency is observed with awe by Hollywood's main characters. For a time, he seems to be just what the nation needs, making the abrupt collapse of his administration and Harding's sudden death all the more shocking.
    • Any scene with Franklin D. Roosevelt. Nobody believes that this sickly naval clerk will amount to anything.
  • I Have No Son: Burden's father, a veteran of Chickamauga, disowned him for leaving the People's Party to run as a Democrat.
  • Incest Is Relative: Peter and Enid in Washington D.C. The novel is a semi-biographical account of Vidal's early life, with Enid as an avatar of Nina Gore, his mother. So, yeah. Considering his vocal dislike of Freudian analyses, this might be Lampshade Hanging on the author's part.
  • Lady Drunk: Enid.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: In Burr, Martin Van Buren is posited to be an illegitimate son of Aaron Burr. The last page of the novel unmasks the narrator, Charles Schuyler, as yet another of Burr's children.
  • Most Writers Are Writers: Peter Sanford in Washington D.C, and The Golden Age.
    • Write Who You Know: This, too. It gets especially confusing once he and Peter engage in conversation, resulting in Vidal Breaking the Fourth Wall.
  • Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: The subject of Burr goes to great lengths to paint himself as this.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Warren G Harding surprises many of his so-called supporters by revealing himself to be a crafty politician. Internally, Burden wonders if Harding's image as a folksy, third-tier candidate was all an elaborate ruse.
  • Old Media Are Evil
  • Passive-Aggressive Kombat: The Roosevelts are blackbelts.
  • Real Person Fic: The books loosely follow the Sanfords, a clan of Gumps who mix with Washington society. A secondary protagonist, James Burden Day, is introduced in Washington, D.C.
  • Riddle for the Ages: Who killed Jess Smith? It's implied in the book that Smith was assassinated as part of a coverup of the Teapot Dome scandal.
  • Sanity Slippage: Mary Todd Lincoln.
  • Sibling Rivalry: Blaise keeps hoping (indeed, praying) for his sister to fail at something.
  • Sleazy Politician: Clay Overbury in Washington D.C is portrayed as a Kennedy-esque charmer whose cutthroat true nature is mostly hidden.
  • Stage Names: Movie mogul Caroline Sanford goes undercover as "Emma Traxler."
  • Stealth Insult: In their one scene together, Theodore Roosevelt is busting FDR's balls for being a Desk Jockey. Franklin, trying not to grimace, agrees with him and laments, "We must serve where we can do the best for our our country, and not ourselves." (This subtle jab does not escape T.R.'s attention.)
  • Invisible to Gaydar: Blaise Sanford is an in-universe example of this trope.
  • Thanatos Gambit: In the novel Burr, it is strongly suggested (citing actual historical evidence) that Alexander Hamilton took pains to ensure that if he were killed in the duel, he would ruin Burr's political career in the process and disgrace him forever.
  • Tragic Hero: Sen. James Burden Day.
  • Verbal Tic: Jess Smith's "Whaddaya know?" He also can't stop whistling a folk tune, "My God, How the Money Rolls In", a hint to his occupation as Harding's bag-man.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Blaise Sanford prizes his protégé, Clay, over his own family. Burden's relationship with his father is noted to have been similarly testy.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: Burden's quest for the presidency. Teddy Roosevelt seems a shoe-in for the 1920 race, then abruptly dies. Wilson is slated to appoint Burden his VP for an unprecedented third term—until the League of Nations implodes on him. Finally, once the curtain closes on the Ohio Gang, no one is left standing but Coolidge, whom Burden will "inevitably" trounce in the '24 race.
  • Yes-Man: Since little is known about John Wilkes Booth's co-conspirator David Herold, he's depicted in Lincoln as one of these. Up to Eleven with Jess Smith, who is even more sycophantic.
  • You Remind Me of X: W.G. Harding's "Voyage of Understanding", a transcontinental tour to rally the people to support his policies, reminds Burden of a similar trip made by Harding's predecessor. It is not meant as a flattering comparison.