Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir - Hardcover

Vidal, Gore

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316027278 ISBN 13: 9780316027274

Publisher: Little Brown, 2006

Synopsis

POINT TO POINT NAVIGATION refers to a form of navigation Gore Vidal resorted to as a first mate in the navy during World War II. As he says, 'As I was writing this account of my life and times since PALIMPSEST, I felt as if I were again dealing with those capes and rocks in the Bering Sea that we had to navigate so often with a compass made inoperable by weather.' It is a beautifully apt analogy for the hazards (mostly) eluded during his eventful life. From his desks in Ravello and the Hollywood Hills, Gore Vidal travels in memory through the arenas of literature, television, film, theatre, politics, and international society, where he has cut a broad swath, recounting achievements and defeats, friends and enemies made (and on a number of occasions lost). Among the gathering of notables to be found in these pages, Tennessee Williams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Orson Welles, Greta Garbo, and Francis Ford Coppola. Some of the book's most moving pages are devoted to the illness and death of his partner of five decades, Howard Austen, and indeed the book is, among other things, a meditation on mortality written in the spirit of Montaigne.

About this title

Review:

'A fitting finale to a life that was always navigated by the
stars' -- Telegraph

'It's a relief to read such a clear and eloquent analysis of what's gone wrong in America from one of its finest intellectuals. Vidal . . . expresses his most intimate opinions fearlessly. I think he's magnificent; he represents what intellectual discourse used to be in America, before the national dumbing-down got underway properly' -- Daily Mail

'The wit is still there ... our last defiant man of letters'
-- Scotsman

'This is Vidal at his best ... He is fearless, courageous,
campaigning, waspish and wise. The combination is rare and dynamite'
-- The Times

'This is Vidal at his best: puncturing pomposity and relishing the rich contradictory nature of himself and America, both things that he loves. He is fearless, courageous, campaigning, waspish and wise. The combination is rare and dynamite. Be bold and buy this book - be Gored to avoid being bored' -- The Times

'Vidal has ever been an exquisite writer ... the judgments are
acute, finely observed and always memorable' -- Rod Liddle in the Sunday Times

'Vidal's superior drawl, full of erudite wit and feline malice, is still irresistible' -- Christopher Hart, Sunday Times

'Waspishly well-written' -- Sunday Times

'wonderfully entertaining and irreverent ... has [Vidal] strutting
the stage ... replaying some of his finest roles'
-- Independent

Book Description:

In this sequel to PALIMPSEST, the celebrated novelist Gore Vidal ranges freely over his remarkable life with the signature wit and literary elegance that is uniquely his.

About this edition

• Publisher: Little Brown
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0316027278
• ISBN 13: 9780316027274
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 277