Remembering Gore Vidal: A Postscript

No, I don’t believe that Vidal “is the most significant American writer of the twentieth century.” That’s the kind of phrase that takes advantage of the vagueness of the word “significant.” Does Altman mean best writer?” I don’t think so? Best novelist? Not likely. Significant to whom? Comparative evaluations need always to define their terms and even then often aren’t helpful. I feel quite comfortable saying that Vidal is a significant writer for those who are interested in the overall arc of his career, his versatility, his elegant prose, his novels that dramatize important twentieth-century issues, and his contrarian essays and novels that offer perceptive examinations of American political, social, and sexual concerns.