Creation: A Novel [Paperback]

Gore Vidal (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 27, 2002

A sweeping novel of politics, war, philosophy, and adventure–in a restored edition, featuring never-before-published material from Gore Vidal’s original manuscript–Creation offers a captivating grand tour of the ancient world.
Cyrus Spitama, grandson of the prophet Zoroaster and lifelong friend of Xerxes, spent most of his life as Persian ambassador for the great king Darius. He traveled to India, where he discussed nirvana with Buddha, and to the warring states of Cathay, where he learned of Tao from Master Li and fished on the riverbank with Confucius. Now blind and aged in Athens–the Athens of Pericles, Sophocles, Thucydides, Herodotus, and Socrates–Cyrus recounts his days as he strives to resolve the fundamental questions that have guided his life’s journeys: how the universe was created, and why evil was created with good. In revisiting the fifth century b.c.–one of the most spectacular periods in history–Gore Vidal illuminates the ideas that have shaped civilizations for millennia.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 445 B.C., Cyrus Spitama, the grandson of the prophet Zoroaster, is the Persian ambassador to the city of Athens. He has a rather caustic appreciation of his situation: "I am blind. But I am not deaf. Because of the incompleteness of my misfortune, I was obliged yesterday to listen for nearly six hours to a self-styled historian whose account of what the Athenians like to call 'the Persian Wars' was nonsense of a sort that were I less old and more privileged, I would have risen to my seat at the Odeon and scandalized all Athens by answering him." Having thus dismissed Herodotus, Cyrus then dictates his life story to his nephew, Democritus, with similar disdain for the Greeks--whom we in the modern world have come to view as the progenitors of civilization, but whom Cyrus considers to be bad-smelling rabble.

Of course, Cyrus Spitama speaks with a very modern, ironic voice supplied to him by Gore Vidal--and the political intrigues in which Cyrus finds himself immersed are likewise familiar territory for fans of Vidal's historical fiction. But the narrator's delightfully wicked observations are the icing on a narrative of truly epic scope--out of his desire to understand the origins of the world, Cyrus undertakes journeys to India, where he encounters disciples of the Buddha, and China, where he engages Confucius in philosophical conversation while the great sage fishes by the riverside. Creation offers insights into classical history laced with scintillating wit and narrative brio. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Something old, something new: Vidal's classic, narrated by the grandson of the prophet Zoroaster, is being republished in an expanded edition that includes material from the original manuscript that never made its way into print.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (August 27, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375727051
• ISBN-13: 978-0375727054
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.4 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #93,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 82 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars what an idea! April 5, 2001

By Robert J. Crawford TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Having read it many years ago, I bought this book as a gift fora friend in the hospital... Just for fun, I opened it up to peruse it a bit. And then I became totally engrossed and read it again cover to cover. THat is the test of a great book: you can read it again and again and see more each time.Of all of Vidal's novels, this one has the most ideas: the main character (a Persian ambassador to Athens who despises what he hears Herodotus reading) recounts his meetings with the creators of the several great cosmological systems, that is, monotheism, buddhism, and confucianism, all of whom may have lived within one person's lifetime. These are some of the principal systems that have undergirded world civilisations ever since. Vidal recounts them with fascination and acid wit.But that is not all. At the core of the book is a portrayal of court life at the high noon of the Persian empire, a hotbed of intrigue, fellowship, and sex. You learn about subject Babylon, Xerxes' alcoholism, and the governance via eunichs from the inner chambers of the queen's harem. What is most original is that Vidal sets Persian civilisation in stark contrast to the more primitive Greeks, who were enjoying their own golden (Periklean) age. This neatly turns our Western self image of Greek glory on its head, and is hilarious as well as effective satire (though Vidal is so subtle that I may be misreading him here).Highly recommended, the best historical novel I ever read.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars History masquerading as fiction April 22, 2003

By Gail Moore

Format:Paperback

Our narrator in "Creation" is Cyrus Spitama, son of a Persian father and Greek mother, grandson of Zoroaster and friend to Xerxes. Cyrus is old and blind, he has ended up in Athens in his last years, dictating the story of his travels and his life to his nephew and scribe, Democritus. In each of the places he describes - Babylon, Cathay, India, Greece, cities of Persia - his main focus is on the religious customs, particularly various creation myths. It is no secret that Cyrus definitely favors the one (male) god that created everything, we live one life - it's good versus evil and then there's either heaven or hell.

There is so much crammed into this book, which is both its' strength and weakness. There are so many characters in this book, especially in the parts dealing with the Greeks, that it sometimes reads more like a history lesson than page turning fiction. Over the course of his life Cyrus comes to know Darius & Xerxes, both Great Kings of Persia, Zoroaster, the Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, and Li Tzu, quite amazing for a single individual. Even so, it's the scope of this book that makes it so interesting, I thought the trips through what is now India and China were the best parts. Who were the Aryans, really?

In spite of its weaknesses, I can't think of any other work of fiction that introduces so many customs, traditions, and philosophies of the ancient world and also encourages an awareness of the vastness of human civilization and history.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding historical fiction and philosophical examination October 6, 1999

By John A. Kackley

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This book, through the person of the grandson of the founder of Zoroastrianism, scans the major world societies of the Classical age, examining the creation of several of the world's major religions and secular foundations. The book spans the Persian Empire, the Greek City States, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism along with Zoroastrianism, placing each within the human context of their foundation and belief. There's not really any plot, other than the life story of the narrator - and by extension, Persian politics which affect it, but the book is tremendously absorbing. While the book is fabulous in its strong points, it may take a reader with a strong predisposition to enjoy the book - philosophical comparisons of classical religions may not excite every reader.