MYRA BRECKINRIDGE

by Gore Vidal ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 1968

Given that Mr. Vidal has something vaguely wicked to say about the non-culture of the neon, bearded present, and the celluloid culture that brought it all on; that he is also, even more vaguely, unsettled by popular sexual quests of various sorts-nonetheless this little gasper is mainly fun and prurient frolic. Solitary in the awareness of the truths of the Forties' Great Films (the ""entire range of human legend...no irrelevant film was made"") Myra Breckinridge, ""whom no man will ever possess,"" works her will, vocally and kinetically, among the total and semi-innocents of Uncle Duck's acting academy in Hollywood. Taking on the hapless Buck in uneven combat (he's the uncle of her late husband Myron) Myra sets sail toward the visonary world of single sex, where men are not precisely men and women expand hitherto neglected possibilities of communication. Practice follows theory head-on, as a young, stumbling heterosexual named Rusty is let in on the New Age in a chapter that curls the pages; and Myra is left with Rusty's girl friend, little Mary Ann, another fathom on to the uncharted uterine. But it seems that surgery rather than City Hall had blended identities, and an auto accident revives Myron (who marries Mary Ann), rejects Myra, and is active in Planned Parenthood, the Great Dagwood Bumstead of the Great Sixties....In spite of some hilarious moments, the narrow focus palls-more groin than grin. Dedicated to Christopher Isherwood.

Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1968

Categories: FICTION