In Bed With Gore Vidal

December 2, 2013
In this thorough study of the infamous American author, journalist Teeman, making his full-length debut, paints a complex portrait of a gay icon who eschewed the word most often used to describe his proclivities. As Teeman summarizes, "how felt about his own sexuality, the reality of that sexuality and where it intersected with his writing, ambition, and politics are the foundation of this book." Teeman focuses on his subject's numerous ambiguities and contradictions, most perpetrated and encouraged by the man himself, his apparent self-loathing, his contrary nature, and in doing so, shows readers a man who defied convention at every point and refused to accept labels. Teeman returns to that theme often enough that it becomes repetitive; a few chapters in, and it's clear that Vidal, who was never likely to embrace his homosexuality in public, had a love-hate relationship with sex and identity. As for his supposed bisexuality, his encounters with women were apparently "inconclusive, barely convincing attempt at homosexuality." Teeman's research, extensively drawn from articles and personal interviews, as well as talking with Vidal himself, showcases the subject with an unbiased sympathy, for good and bad. As he puts it, "Vidal dies as he livedâtrickily, complicatedly, stubbornly, but with love around him despite his best attempts to ward it off." Perhaps not the perfect Vidal biography, focused as it is on his sexual side, but a worthy look at a fascinating figure.

January 1, 2014

Over the course of six decades in public life, essayist, novelist, screenwriter, and Broadway playwright Gore Vidal (1925-2012) often asserted his belief that there are not homosexual people, only homosexual acts, refusing to define himself by terms he felt were restrictive. Journalist Teeman's first book is primarily a study on Vidal's public comments, writing, history, and beliefs over the years through the prism of sexuality. Neither a biography nor a critical literary study, this book offers a fascinating, sometimes salacious, and entertaining look at a career that spanned a half-century that saw dramatic changes in public attitudes toward homosexuality. Teeman interviewed many of Vidal's associates and friends and relies upon the author's own writings, interviews, archives, and memoirs to present a portrait and to provoke questions. Did Vidal use his provocative statements as a shield, a way to further debate, or was it just in his nature to present contradictory and mysterious versions of himself? VERDICT Filled with quotes and peppered with gossipy details, this book also has sections on Vidal's final years, but its main focus is how his views on sexuality and his private behavior influenced his thinking. It will be of interest both to fans of Vidal and those interested in 20th-century gay cultural studies.--James Collins, Morristown-Morris Twp. P.L., NJ

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.