Sympathy for the Devil: Four Decades of Friendship with Gore Vidal

In this memoir about his friendship with Gore Vidal, Mewshaw (Lying with the Dead) proposes to offer a “corrective portrait” that will reveal the vulnerability beneath the legendary writer’s legendary hauteur. To be sure, Vidal was known for his scathing wit, several examples of which are amusingly recounted. When actor Andy Garcia, for instance, indicates that Mewshaw, not Vidal, is his favorite author, the catty Vidal tells his friend, “You can have all the dyslexics.” Elsewhere, we read of Vidal’s penchant for discussing “celebrity equipment” with guests, his long-standing vendetta against the New York Times, and his “rich history of hypochondria.” But as amusing as these anecdotes are, Mewshaw’s book is best when probing its subject’s true character. Vidal is revealed to have been an avid protector of his own public persona, at one point making Mewshaw tell the London Review of Books that Vidal planned to sue the magazine for libel. Vidal’s real self is more elusive: in one episode, he claims to have fathered a daughter so he won’t be tied down to one sexual identity, and in another he tells a story about an adolescent affair with the “love of his life,” which Mewshaw later learns might not be true. To Mewshaw’s credit, readers will share his sadness as he watches his dear friend, the oft-irascible, even unlikable Vidal, decline. 8 pages of b&w illus. Agent: Michael Carlisle, Inkwell Management. (Jan.)