Author, essayist, screenwriter, bon vivant, and public intellectual Gore Vidal, 86, died Tuesday from complications of pneumonia. His 25 novels included THE CITY AND THE PILLAR (1948), JULIAN (1964), and MYRA BRECKENRIDGE (1968), as well as a trilogy of crime novels written under the pseudonym Edgar Box, though he was more famous to younger generations for his bon mots and television appearances.
His editor for over a decade Gerry Howard said in a brief statement: “Gore Vidal was the last surviving giant of a postwar crop of American literary giants. He was also that rare American writer who spoke not just to his countrymen but to the entire world, which listened closely to what he had to say. It is hard to think of another figure in our literature whose achievements were more various or who cut as dashing and visible a figure in various public realms. He can’t be replaced and he most certainly will be missed. The world just became a duller place.” The NYT obit aptly described Vidal as “the elegant, acerbic all-around man of letters who presided with a certain relish over what he declared to be the end of American civilization.”
Siobahn Paganelli has joined Phaidon Press senior publicist in the company’s New York office. She was previously a publicist at Palgrave Macmillan.
Caroline Newbury will join Random House India as vp, marketing and publicity, reporting to Gaurav Shrinagesh. Previously she was publicity director at Ebury.