Where to begin? At the end.
At the close of The Golden Age, the last novel in his long series of American history, Gore Vidal performs a theatrical trick. The year is 2000. A television crew has come from Rome to Ravello in order to interview Vidal (the writer) alongside Peter Sanford (one of the writer’s central characters) for a program they’re making (about Roosevelt, Truman, and the arming of America in the 20th century). Yes, the man who never misses a chance to have sex or appear on television cannot resist inserting himself into his own final chapter, where he converses freely with his own creations on and off the air. After the filming, the crew goes back to Rome, and Peter and Vidal — character and creator — are left alone together above the Gulf of Salerno. “Our revels now are ended,” says Peter. “Why do you keep letting Shakespeare leak in upon us?” Vidal’s reply is simple: Why not? William, after all, gives names to things, real and unreal.
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