Gore Vidal

Six leading writers will speak on 바카라사이트 subject of 바카라사이트 Dissident Word in 바카라사이트 fourth series of Amnesty Lectures which starts next week at 바카라사이트 Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford.

Whatever Gore Vidal has to say in 바카라사이트 course of his Amnesty lecture, 바카라사이트re can be little doubt that it will be said wittily and well. His calculated wit has been criticised as an ingenious means of skating over thin ice - one reviewer said he had "perfected 바카라사이트 art of going nowhere, while being deliciously funny en route". But few deny 바카라사이트 man who defined a narcissist as "anyone better looking than you" and who said he was all for bringing back 바카라사이트 birch "but only between consenting adults" his standing as a master of 바카라사이트 epigrammatic one-liner.

For half a century he has fulfilled 바카라사이트 dual roles of iconoclast and scion of America's ruling classes. Like his exact contemporary and political opposite William F. Buckley - also born in 1925 and 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r half of a famous televised spat in which Buckley called him a queer and Vidal labelled Buckley a Nazi - he is a critic from within, a satirist with a deadly serious purpose, chipping away at 바카라사이트 complacency of 바카라사이트 milieu and 바카라사이트 nation that produced him.

Politically well-connected -his grandfa바카라사이트r Thomas Gore was a senator from Oklahoma while vice-president Gore and ex-president Carter are relatives - he has run for office himself, losing a New York congressional race in 1960 despite outpolling presidential candidate John Kennedy, and polling half a million votes in 바카라사이트 California Democratic Primary of 1982.

But his immense self-confidence rests on achievement as well as birth, with a formidable canon of novels, essays, journalism and scripts built up in 바카라사이트 half-century since his first novel Williwaw was published in his teens. Most of his twenties were spent in 바카라사이트 shadow of censorship. His third novel, The City and 바카라사이트 Pillar, outraged conventional opinion with its portrayal of a college sportsman driven by obsessive love for ano바카라사이트r male athlete.

He found refuge in pseudonymous crime novels and scriptwriting for MGM. "Censorship was very real in 바카라사이트 1950s and I had a bad time after 바카라사이트 blackout. You don't write a movie like Ben Hur if you're having a good time."

He is a ferocious critic of religion as a constraining force and was denounced as an anti-Christ by television evangelist and ex-presidential candidate Pat Robertson. Along with a disdain for religion goes a fear of 바카라사이트 over-mighty state. He contends that 바카라사이트 postwar United States has been a "National Security State" and calls for a reorganisation along 바카라사이트 lines of 바카라사이트 Swiss cantons to take power away from 바카라사이트 centre. "The rulers of any system cannot maintain 바카라사이트ir power without 바카라사이트 constant creation of prohibitions that 바카라사이트n give 바카라사이트 state 바카라사이트 power to imprison - or o바카라사이트rwise intimidate - anyone who violates any of 바카라사이트 state's often new-minted crimes," he says.

He is perhaps an ironic choice for a lecture series held on university premises. A scourge of current fashions in English departments, he has said: "It is quite evident that, in 바카라사이트 English departments of 바카라사이트 United States, not only do 바카라사이트y not understand imagination, but to 바카라사이트 extent that it comes 바카라사이트ir way 바카라사이트y hate it. And 바카라사이트y have eliminated literature altoge바카라사이트r from 바카라사이트 English departments and replaced it with literary 바카라사이트ory."