Gore Vidal’s new memoirs sent up

That great panjandrum of American literary and political life, Gore Vidal (pictured in his youth), is working on a new memoir. The book, to be published next November, is being co-written with Vanity Fair editor Ann Schneider.

The tome is grandly described by its publisher as "a scrapbook of Vidal's considerable library of mementos, documents, photos, and records" which will take readers through "six decades of American social history.

Vidal, 83, has already published two memoirs, but clearly feels the public's appetite for information about himself is far from satiated.

And for those who can't wait, Gawker, the US media gossip website, has helpfully put together a series of photos depicting the great man's life and times. It's unlikely to please Vidal, however.

Following a highly irreverent dash through his career highlights - educated at West Point, screenwriter on the film Ben-Hur, failed attempt to become Senator, and so on – it produces a photo of Vidal, a homosexual who also managed to be briefly engaged to the actress Joanne Woodward, sitting in a wheelchair while a naked black man approaches him.