From Byron and Keats to Hemingway, Capote and Bret Easton Ellis: A Short History of writers behaving badly
In 1971, Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal appeared together on The Dick Cavett Show. It should have been an opportunity for two distinguished American writers to discuss literature, politics and perhaps the future of the novel. Instead, Mailer had reportedly headbutted Vidal backstage, and the subsequent television appearance became an extraordinary display of literary hostility. Mailer was belligerent, Vidal was cutting, and fellow guest Janet Flanner looked increasingly unimpressed by the whole business. It was the sort of evening that rather undermined the idea that reading great books necessarily makes people more civilised.