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The ‘Degenerate’ Genius of Gore Vidal

Mystery Man

Noted author, TV talk show habitue, Gore Vidal was first and last a cat who walked by himself. Biographer—and friend—Jay Parini talks about the difficulty of seeing Vidal plainly.

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Ulf Andersen/Getty

“Shoot me from this side,” Gore Vidal always told me, as if despite having produced four or five of his interviews with his friend Dick Cavett, I was too dense to remember which profile he preferred.

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