Presumes a critical apathy that may not yet be warranted.'

'Possibly - just barely possibly - it is meant as a brave and desperate assault from the inside on camp, pop, pornography, lip-service liberalism and other evidences of ethical and esthetic anarchy. 'Vidal picks an assortment of on-target political themes, adds several pinches of off-beat sex, and cooks it all over a good melodramatically licking flame, to serve up what is known in the trade as a 'page-turner.'' Vidal has learned much from the Robert Graves of the Claudius books: the freshness of the speaking voice in narrative soliloquy, the inevitable but discreetly managed modernization of diction, outlook,Īction. In it, with the help of classical myth and a cosmopolitan setting, Vidal has found the way to a dramatic statement is the best and most ambitious of his novels, the richest in texture and the most carefully executed. 't is the melodrama of the plot, diluted though that is by long interior monologues and mood-exhibits, which carries the writing, not the other way round.' Vidal's approach is coldly clinical: there is no real attempt to involve the reader's emotions.' 'Presented as the case history of a standard homosexual, this novel adds little that is new to a groaning shelf. It is called 'Williwaw' and it is a sound, craftsmanlike work that would do credit to a practiced 'A good novel about the Aleutians has been written by one of the youngest soldiers who went there, Gore Vidal. Paul Mattick Reviews 'The Essential Gore Vidal' (February 14, 1999).First Chapter: 'The Essential Gore Vidal'.First Chapter: 'The Smithsonian Institution'.With News and Reviews From the Archives of The New York Times

1876 by Gore Vidal