Gore Vidal

American novelist, essayist, and public intellectual (1925–2012). Mailer's most celebrated literary antagonist — from their first meeting in October 1952 at Mailer's 41 First Avenue apartment through the 2 December 1971 Dick Cavett television confrontation, the 1977 publishing-party head-butt, and the 2002 Don Juan in Hell Provincetown benefit where the two shared a stage for the first time in a quarter-century. The rivalry is the most durable Mailer–writer relationship of the period.

1952 — first meeting

In October 1952 Mailer meets Vidal in New York, shortly after his move to 41 First Avenue. Vidal, already a published novelist (Williwaw, 1946; The City and the Pillar, 1948), is three years younger than Mailer and likewise post-WWII in his formation.

1961 — Lady Jeanne Campbell

In March 1961 Mailer meets Lady Jeanne Campbell at Gore Vidal’s New York apartment — the future third Mrs. Mailer, briefly. Vidal’s apartment is the nexus for several Mailer relationships of the early 1960s.

1971 — the head-butt and the Cavett episode

In the spring of 1971 Vidal compares Mailer to Charles Manson in The New York Review of Books. On 2 December 1971 Mailer and Vidal face off on The Dick Cavett Show — Mailer head-butting Vidal in the green room beforehand; on-air Mailer calls the two of them “the two sister novelists of the East.” Janet Flanner accompanies them on the panel. The exchange becomes one of the most-played television-literary episodes of the 1970s.

1977 — Lally Weymouth’s party

On 24 October 1977, at a New York party given by Lally Weymouth, the feud turned physical again: Mailer threw a drink (and, by some accounts, a punch) at Vidal, drawing a week of gossip-column coverage (see the fight hub, 77.4–77.9). Mailer set down his own account of the television years and the quarrel in “Of a Small and Modest Malignancy” (77.7).

2002 — reconciliation, in character

In October 2002 Mailer and Vidal reprise Don Juan in Hell in a Provincetown Theater benefit — Vidal as the Devil, Mailer as Don Juan. “Vidal, as the Devil, steals the show”.

Related pages

• 1952 | 1961 | 1971 | 1993 | 2002
• Of a Small and Modest Malignancy, Wicked and Bristling with Dots (77.7)

Cite as: /people/gore-vidal
Last updated: 2026-06-05