I'm still reading Gore Vidal. He really does seem to have mastered the essay. However, I don't find him abundant in ideas. He has about thirty ideas--more than most people I suppose. He recycles them. Some essays don't have a new idea, only new trivia or gossip concerning a celebrity.
I find I learn more with Vidal than I learned in college from my professors. I think it was a mistake, majoring in English. Vidal provides a better education than the liberal arts department did. He knows more and he is both clever and insightful and unrestrained by politics or prejudice. I can see why he interests so many people.
I hate his surrealist novels. I like his historical novels the best. I think he quit writing historical novels because he felt like they did not pay enough, and he found essay-writing easier and more lucrative. Also, through essays he can get on his soapbox and voice his opinion directly rather than through the medium of characters.
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