To speak today of a famous novelist is like speaking of a famous cabinetmaker or speedboat designer. Adjective is inappropriate to noun.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that labeling a novelist as 'famous' is as unconventional as labeling a cabinetmaker or speedboat designer in the same way.
Gore Vidal's quote implies that the term 'famous' does not truly capture the essence of a novelist's craft, much like it would not be appropriate to describe a cabinetmaker or speedboat designer as famous. This reflects on the nature of artistic expression and how society tends to categorize or elevate certain professions in ways that may obscure their true significance.
In practice
In a discussion about literature, I once quoted Gore Vidal to emphasize how society often mislabels artistic professions.
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I'm using to the highest degree possible the gift that god gave me to use. I'm happy with that.
The highest Art of the Chess player lies in not allowing your Opponent to show you what he can do.
Something in me knows where Iβm going, and - well, painting is a state of being. ... Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.
For what is a poem but a hazardous attempt at self-understanding: it is the deepest part of autobiography.
The reasons that drive me to write are many and the most important are the most secret, I think. Perhaps most of all this: to put something out of death's reach.
I had grown up as an Irish poet in a country where the distance between vision and imagination was not quite as wide as in some other countries.
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