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Review
Certainly one of the best novels of its kind...It isn't sentimental and it is frank without trying to be sensational and shocking. These are enormous virtues - Christopher Isherwood A noble work - Thomas Mann
Product Description
Jim Willard, former high-school athlete and clean-cut boy-next-door-, is haunted by the memory of a romanctic adolescent encounter with his friend Bob Ford. As Jim pursues his first love, in awe of the very same masculinity he possesses himself, his progresss through the secret gay world of 1940's America unveils surreptitious Hollywood affairs, the hidden life of the military in the Second World War and the underworld bar culture of New York City.
With the publication of his daring thrid novel The City and the Pillar in 1948, Gore Vidal shocked the American public, which has just begun to hail him as their newest and brightest young writer. It remains not only an authentic and profoundly importatnt social document but also a serious exploration of the nature of idealistic love.
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THE moment was strange. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The City and the Pillar came out the year of the Kinsey Report and Truman Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms. The Kinsey Report stunned America with the revelation that a tremendous proportion of Americans had at least one homosexual experience in their life; Capote's clever novel thrilled the literati with its gothic elements and sissy-meets-tomboy-before-finding-bliss-with-queeny-Cousin-Randolph storyline, while reassuring the dominant culture, because, yes, homosexuals were freaks. But Vidal's novel gave us the first ever boy-next-door as gay antihero, and that, beside its numerous literary qualities, is what makes it priceless.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When it was published in 1948, this book was both a scandal and a best-seller. Sixty years on, it is not hard to see why. The book tells the story of Jim, whose passionate weekend affair with his teenage best friend, Bob, confirms him as homosexual and instills in him an obessive belief that his future life will only come together when he and Bob are reunited. The book tells of Jim's forays through the secret gay worlds of Hollywood, the merchant marine and the armed services in WWII. What would have shocked at the time is not the depiction of Jim's gay afairs, which are discreetly told, but the revelation that an all-American boy, tall, handsome and athletic, could be both the model citizen and, at the same time, lead a secret life, and a secret life shared by thousands of others. At one point, Jim reflects that 'obviously the world was not what it seemed. Anything might be true of anybody'. That was what was shocking about the book: it was too near the bone.
Even today, parts of that aspect of the story still resonate. What gives the book timeless appeal, however, is the depiction of Jim and his vain attempts to find personal fulfillment on his waqy to the longed-for reunion with Bob which, of course, turns out to be a disaster. In one sense, the book is dated since it strongly suggests that, in society at the time, the possibility of happiness for gay men is non-existent, but its story still resonates way beyond its undoubted historical interest.
Even today, parts of that aspect of the story still resonate. What gives the book timeless appeal, however, is the depiction of Jim and his vain attempts to find personal fulfillment on his waqy to the longed-for reunion with Bob which, of course, turns out to be a disaster. In one sense, the book is dated since it strongly suggests that, in society at the time, the possibility of happiness for gay men is non-existent, but its story still resonates way beyond its undoubted historical interest.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Excellent example of a gay novel, providing a good balance between the emotional and sexual endevours of a young gay male in 1950's America. It boasts an effective use of emotive language, which both captivates and entertains the reader. The book provides a stunning journey through calm and stormy waters for a young man discovering his sexuality. A must read for all.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Perceptive and informative
It seems almost presumptuous writing a review of a book that has more than proved its worth, published in in 1948 and never out of print, City and the Pillar is a landmark book. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Benjamin
A brave attempt
It was certainly brave of Vidal to write this book, although slightly foolhardy (in my eyes) to force it upon the public in 1948 and throw away his literary career. Read more
Published on 16 Jan 2009 by Rusty
Historically Important; Literarily Weak
Originally published in 1948, THE CITY AND THE PILLAR is generally considered the first mainstream American novel to place gay men and their lives and loves at dead center of the... Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2004 by Gary F. Taylor
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