Myron

by Gore Vidal

Book by Vidal, Gore

Genres: Fiction, Queer, Novels, Gay, Fantasy, LGBT, The United States Of America

214 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 12, 1974

About the author

Works of American writer Eugene Luther Gore Vidal, noted for his cynical humor and his numerous accounts of society in decline, include the play The Best Man (1960) and the novel Myra Breckinridge (1968) .

People know his essays, screenplays, and Broadway.
They also knew his patrician manner, transatlantic accent, and witty aphorisms. Vidal came from a distinguished political lineage; his grandfather was the senator Thomas Gore, and he later became a relation (through marriage) to Jacqueline Kennedy.

Vidal, a longtime political critic, ran twice for political office. He was a lifelong isolationist Democrat. The Nation, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Review of Books, and Esquire published his essays.

Essays and media appearances long criticized foreign policy. In addition, he from the 1980s onwards characterized the United States as a decaying empire. Additionally, he was known for his well publicized spats with such figures as Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley, Jr., and Truman Capote.

They fell into distinct social and historical camps. Alongside his social, his best known historical include Julian, Burr, and Lincoln. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948), outraged conservative critics as the first major feature of unambiguous homosexuality.

At the time of his death he was the last of a generation of American writers who had served during World War II, including J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer and Joseph Heller. Perhaps best remembered for his caustic wit, he referred to himself as a "gentleman bitch" and has been described as the 20th century's answer to Oscar Wilde

Also used the pseudonym Edgar Box.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Gore Vidal é um dos nomes centrais na história da literatura americana pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Nascido em 1925, em Nova Iorque, estudou na Academia de Phillips Exeter (Estado de New Hampshire). O seu primeiro romance, Williwaw (1946), era uma história da guerra claramente influenciada pelo estilo de Hemingway. Embora grande parte da sua obra tenha a ver com o século XX americano, Vidal debruçou-se várias vezes sobre épocas recuadas, como, por exemplo, em A Search for the King (1950), Juliano (1964) e Creation (1981).

Entre os seus temas de eleição está o mundo do cinema e, mais concretamente, os bastidores de Hollywood, que ele desmonta de forma satírica e implacável em títulos como Myra Breckinridge (1968), Myron (1975) e Duluth (1983).

Senhor de um estilo exuberante, multifacetado e sempre surpreendente, publicou, em 1995, a autobiografia Palimpsest: A Memoir. As obras 'O Instituto Smithsonian' e 'A Idade do Ouro' encontram-se traduzidas em português.

Neto do senador Thomas Gore, enteado do padrasto de Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, primo distante de Al Gore, Gore Vidal sempre se revelou um espelho crítico das grandezas e misérias dos EUA.

Faleceu a 31 de julho de 2012, aos 86 anos, na sua casa em Hollywood, vítima de pneumonia.

Reviews

[Jean-Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

As much as I loved Myra Breckinridge, the ending left something to be desired. Thank God for the sequel. Most sequels are entirely unnecessary and are written only to piggyback on the success of the original, but in this case I wanted to see Myra redeem herself. It opens with the somewhat bewildering mechanics of the world in which Myron/Myra finds himself/herself—The Truman Show comes to mind—and from there we are off to the races. The Truman Show meets Groundhog Day meets Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde Myron/Myra is supposedly a straight man now, but funny enough this novel is gayer than the original—having Maude as a character certainly helps. Movie references galore, as is to be expected, and a battle for the body/soul of Myra/Myron Breckinridge (magnificent breasts or a magnificent cock—can't have it all, unfortunately) as well as for Hollywood and beyond. No more Nixon (whose political troubles, as with Vonnegut's Jailbird, forms part of the plot). Or overpopulation. A few instances of racism. Actually ended up enjoying this as much as the original. And now, for some reason, I have the urge to rewatch Sordid Lives.

Maude gave me a suspicious look. I think he was wearing eyeliner and is a fag, an element I do not mind when they keep to themselves and do not prey on minors or solicit straight people like yours truly. Or hold these parades down Hollywood Boulevard and talk about Gay Lib.

Here were are, fifty years later, and conservative are still spouting the exact same bullshit.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vidal's secret to his comedic-smut masterpiece "Myra Breckenridge" goes even farther into the left field than that book. Myron, the recently reconstructed male version of Myra, is now a "silent majority" douche who supports Nixon and the Vietnam War. However, the resurgence of his Myra personality literally pushes him into "Sirens of Babylon," a 1948 film that Myra thinks is the key to stopping overpopulation and the Nixon presidency. While inside this film (that takes three weeks to finishing filming, after which time repeats for the large group of people who have made it their home), Myron and Myra fight for control.

So it's a pretty wild book and features typical Vidal humor and a total dedication to his fantasy scenario. By the end of the book, we're left wondering if what happened really happened or if Myron is just as bonkers as ever.

While I'm not sure the satire is quite as sharp as the previous book (too many of Myron's ultra-conservative rants are a bit "on the nose"), the book is a wild ride.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is cuckoo! It's the sequel (published 6 years later) to Myra Breckenridge, which was itself quite bizarre, but in a much more directed, fierce, and surreally meaningful way. This is just totally random, and the underlying themes about Republican malfeasance and political corruption were way too subtle and stretched much too thin to really bind the story together.

Not helping things much is Vidal's decision to craft a sweeping allegory out of the economic minutiae of studio-era Hollywood. Trying to declaim broadly about the culture at large using examples drawn from a relatively obscure part of an already much too over-mythologized era is tough, and dates itself instantly. Vidal is not really up to the task -- he gets distracted too easily poking fun at everything around him. Not that there's anything wrong with that! In fact, the main reason I bumped this up 1 star from 2 was that Vidal's hilariously bitchy and baroque little queen schtick is out in full force here, and what a pleasure it is to see it in action. But otherwise, this is a fairly mynor (har har) 2-star effort.

Myra Breckenridge is a must-read if only to ensure you can call yourself a (or surround yourself with) fully culturally literate queers; this is a best-forgotten minor trifle, like an upset tummy after enjoying a too-rich dessert.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, the good and funny news: Gore Vidal, in this sequel to MYRA BRECKENRIDGE, decided to replace all sexual obscenities with the names of the Supreme Court Justices who in the mid-Seventies voted to make most pornography illegal in the United States, e.g. "I ate out her Whizzer White". Hilarious. Now for the downer: this novel fails to do for the sexual liberation of the Seventies what MYRA did for the sexual repression of the Sixties. Myron is not a memorable character, and splicing together sexual hangups with Vidal's acidic take on Hollywood does not work this time around. Gore should have heeded the advice of George Kaufman: "Satire is what closes on Saturday night."

[Daisy X Machina · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my drag queen book review on Gore Vidal at: https://youtu.be/frfV8F9qbW4

As a follow up to Myra Breckinridge, this is even a whackier story, which is saying a lot!

[David]

Somewhat frivolously fun, no more, no less.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird, old-fashioned, but fast and well written. Confusing at times. But I like it better than Myra Breckenridge, so that's good. Not sure if many will like it, but I'm glad I read it.

[Mindbait]

I didn't enjoy this as much as "Myra Breckinridge", in the first book you found yourself rooting for Myra as a twisted anti-hero. In the second book, despite Myron's confusion Myra just feels like a malicious and destructive person. I guess part of it is that...


in the first book, Myron has chosen to become Myra because she was unhappy as Myron; by the end of the book she is confused about her feelings for Mary-Anne and comes to find happiness as Myron again. In "Myron" Myron is happy being Myron, he doesn't want to be Myra, she is trying to force herself on him.

Maybe Vidal wanted to write it that way to express the conflicting emotions and occasional self-loathing of growing up with some of his own sexual proclivities being more or less illegal.

[David Haws · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably as good as I have any right to expect, for an unplanned sequel to a popular novel that was good, but not among the author's best. Still, it's a pretty stunning reflection of Vidal is his gadfly mode. I liked the Supreme Court swear-substitutes, but they would have been funnier if actually required to pass some antiquated form of censorship.

[Blair P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly mad continuation of the Myra Breckinridge lore that incorporates some Jekyll and Hyde realness mixed with a ton of Old Hollywood history. Myra is even more of a girlboss icon and pioneer of camp villainy in this than she was in the previous book.

[Toby Bond · Rating 2 out of 5]

A poor sequel to Myra, very bizarre and fairly directionless.

[Misty Burrows · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meandering, with an unsatisfying ending, but still almost as hilarious as the original. Reminded me a lot of Being John Malkovich and Antkind.

[Ian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Myra Breckinridge was a scream. This follow up is awful & all over the place.

[Kirk Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

great beach read

[Vincent Darkhelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant sequel to Myra Breckinridge. Extraordinarily inventive.

[Miguel Ángel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really think that it was the most bizarre book I have ever read in my entire life, but it was brilliant, it really was, in fact i don't think I have the right words to describe these autentic piece of art.

The plot is quite bizarre, about a transexual in 1973, who was born Myron but he changed of sex and became Myra, and then she had a unexpected car accident and changed back to Myron, I mean, that for me is quite bizarre already.

Anyway, Myron stays up late at nigh watching an old MGM movie and a strange force takes him through the tv screen and transports him to the movie set in 1948.

Myron at the same time has to adapt to the people who is native of the place and time with the other foreigners that are in the same situation than him, into a dimesion who is developed in an especific place like Hollywood and in an especific time wich runs only from June to July, 1948 wich is the time needed to make that film that trapped Myron into another dimension.

But to complicate things more her female alter ego Myra, starts to take control of his body and his brain, so he can conceive his evil plan of male sterelization in all over the world by changing males into females so the population an poverty problems can be decrease in the future wich is the year 1973.

Bizarre, funny, easy to read, short (I ended the book in just 2 days)and just amazing.

Highly recommended

[Philip · Rating 1 out of 5]

48 pages into MYRON, it's nowhere near as perverse as its predecessor, the notorious MYRA BRECKINRIDGE, but so far it's also one heck of a dumb book. Picking up several years after Myra Breckinridge was the victim of a hit-and-run accident which subsequently led to the re-emergence of her formerly-male self, Myron and Mary-Ann are happily-married - Myron writes for television and also runs a Chinese catering service. Suddenly (and incomprehensibly), while watching a 1948 movie on television, Myron is suddenly sucked into the television set (!) and finds himself on-set, watching Maria Montez and Bruce Cabot filming; an so are a lot of other people who are 'visiting' from other years. Meanwhile, there's a struggle going on inside Myron as his former female self, Myra, tries to reassert herself...

According to Wikipedia, "The novel was published shortly after an anti-pornography ruling by the Supreme Court; Vidal responded by replacing the profanity in his novel with the names of the Justices involved (e.g., 'He thrust his enormous Rehnquist deep within her Whizzer White', etc.)."

So far, so bad. Sorry, Mr. Vidal!

[Bert · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal, the high camp queer classic, I didn’t think the story and character could go any further than they already did, I was wrong. Myra is back, but this time she’s back in her original form of Myron, and let me tell you Myron is up to some mischief here in this book, out to take down Hollywood one man at a time. I loved how the psyche of Myra takes over from Myron sometimes, that inner demon we all have that’s always about to take over. It’s such an entertaining story, it’s extremely over the top and far-fetched, ridiculous for the most part and dumb and silly but just so damn fun, and also sexy, the way Gore writes about the male body is so fab.

[Kevin Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book's not bad ... IF you can accept Vidal's going from the far-fetched but realistic world of "Myra Breckinridge" to, without warning, his fantasy satire universe. If you can do that (and admittedly, it's not easy), then you'll have fun and laugh.
I don't know why but Vidal, in later editions of this novel, took out a key joke from the original, in which he substituted curse words with the last names of Supreme Court Justices. Bad move.

[Rozonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you mix a transexual who wants to save the world by sterilizing males and turning them into Amazons, a love of B-class movies of the 40s and 50s, time-travelling inside your TV,Maria Montez and Nixon...you get the funniest, most intelligent book I've read in years and of which I never tire of. Recommended.

[Moureco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Myra Breckinridge de volta, mas com dilema: a mulher que homem algum alguma vez possuirá debate-se entre possuir, como homem, e deixar-se ser p+ossuída como mulher, nas mais variadas posições. Texto corrosivo como sempre, (Gora Vidal não facilita), para uma conclusão simples: o amor é homo-hetero-bissexual.

[Niki M · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you liked Myra Breckinridge at all and if you are a fan of Gore Vidal... This book is something of a disappointment. I kept thinking "really!?" the whole way through and when the feeling was still there at the end I pawned the book off at a library box drop an proceeded to pretty much forget about it.

[Jack Burnham]

Very imaginative and often good fun but also quite patchy. Almost totally lacks the real subversive force of the first book, and Myra the character does not have much new up her sleeve. It was worth a read however, as it's perfectly agreeable if taken in the right spirit (not too seriously, with expectations adjusted accordingly).

[Teddy Dodger · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the best parts of fight-club (split-personality), the S.C.U.M manifesto (female-supremacy) and Groundhog day (reccuring time loops) crammed into one novel. And a lot of bashing Hollywood which is fun.

And with the strapon porn only being alluded to rather than being the crux of the whole novel.

[Pewterbreath · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is supposed to be WILD. I didn't find it wild. I found it strange but not wild. A sequel to Myra Breckinridge, where they use the Supreme Court Justice names as curse names (Rehnquist means Penis), and also Myron stops time to castrate an actor--wierd--not effective, just wierd.

[Kris]

couldn't finish, not my type at all. it's a sequel, but I don't think reading the first book would have helped. only tried it cause I thought I should attempt something by Gore Vidal... Ho-hum.. moving on!

[Luis Cardenas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mi parecer Myron resulta mas controvertido y a su vez mucho mas placentera que Myra. Por ese mismo cinismo de ella querer cambiarlo todo y de ser él ese prototipo de americano "correcto" que Vidal tanto critica en su trayectoria como ensayista y antagonista de la cultura americana.

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got on a Gore Vidal kick my junior year of college. I started with "The City and the Pillar" and moved on to Myra Breckinridge, which I liked even better than "City" and then directly on to "Myron." My notes from my journal at that time only say, "Vidal is an interesting fellow, isn't he?"

[W.B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sequel that follows Myra (now Myron) in her new career as a film critic. I read this donkey years ago and only remember it was witty and pithy on gender but not quite as much transgressive fun.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm still in awe of Gore Vidal, but Myron was a weak second compared to Myra.