I recognize Ravello in the dreamWhere Gore Vidal and Howard walk towardsMe, smiling, with martinis in their hands.We’re now inside La Rondinaia (orThe Swallow’s Nest). I sense unevennessBeneath my feet, look down, and see the floorComprised of pale blue jigsaw pieces, allIn disarray. I must tread carefully,In order not to break these scattered tilesThat seem like fragments from a fallen sky. ... (read more)
Heather Neilson
Heather Neilson teaches in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy and is the author of Political Animal: Gore Vidal on power (Monash University Press, 2014).
The editors of Conversations with Gore Vidal – a recently published selection of interviews conducted with Vidal over the course of his long career – introduce the volume by quoting a comment made in the New Yorker in 1960: ‘Nothing’s easier nowadays than to get the feeling of being surrounded by Gore Vidal.’ They go on to remark that, today: ‘Gore Vidal is again seemingly everywhere. ... (read more)