Eugene Luther Gore Vidal was an American writer, novelist, essayist, screenwriter and playwright. Vidal was born in New York and brought up in California by his Broadway actress mother and army officer father. When he finished college, he went to join the army and became a warrant officer, until he fell ill because of arthritis. He started writing when he was only 21 and wrote many controversial, ahead of his time novels, essays, memoirs and film scripts. The most controversial work of his literary career was his second novel called ‘The City and the Pillar’, which had an unflustered portrayal of homosexuality in it. It shocked the society at the time so much so that New York Times refused to review his books for the next 5 years, which compelled him to write under a pseudo-name for some years. His writings are considered to be sharp and witty. He was a broad-minded writer, who often wrote satirical statements on sex, gender, gays, etc. Vidal was a self proclaimed bisexual who remained in a long term relationship with his partner Howard Austin.