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 story of the only female pope (to date) emerged in the thirteenth century, and for some time thereafter was widely disseminated in Europe. She was initially alleged to have lived in the twelfth century, but what would become the best-known version of the story placed her election as pope in the year 855. The pontificate of ‘John Anglicus’ was said to have lasted for approximately two and a ... (read more)
Percival Everett is a professor of English at the University of Southern California, and the author of numerous works of fiction published over the past forty years. Throughout his oeuvre, he has explored the ways in which texts engage with other texts, and has vigorously critiqued the persistent stereotyping of African Americans in the cultural history of the United States. His best-known novel i ... (read more)
The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms, to take a random example, indicates the challenges facing anyone undertaking a definitive and detailed account of modernism. According to the Dictionary’s author, J.A. Cuddon, modernism is: ‘A comprehensive but vague term for a movement (or tendency) [that] pertains to all the creative arts, especially poetry, fiction, drama, painting, music and archit ... (read more)
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)
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)