Customer Reviews

Creation: A Novel

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Gore Vidal does a wonderful job bringing the fifth century B.C. to life. Most of the historical material that is available from this time period tells the story from the Greek point of view, though it is likely the Persians thought of Greece in the uncultured and unwealthy way that Vidal portrays. More importantly, the novel presents eastern thought of the period in a very clear, concise manner. Questions are raised not only pertaining to the narrator's Zoroastrian religion, but also pertaining to Buddhism and Confucianism. The benefits and pitfalls of each are described in detail. This is the first Gore Vidal novel I have read, and I will certainly delve into more.

Hats off to Gore Vidal, who amazed me with his understanding of the ancient eastern world, without going overboard with the fallacies in the system. A must created and the book certainly goes in the "A" list of books

Recently on an interview broadcast on C-SPAN, Gore Vidal, when asked what he would do if he were to be King for a day said that he would make everyone read this book. After reading it, I must agree. This is a truly enjoyable and entertaining book to read, but more than that it is profound in its insight and wisdom into the organized religious structure of society today. Vidal uses the origins of the various religions and slightly veiled fictional religions to present his thesis and critique of the monotheistic religions. I highly recommend this book to everyone, whether you are looking for merely an entertaining book to read or for something more, this book will "create" that experience for you.

The fact that this book is one of the most stunning books that i have ever read kinda crept up on me. It begins simply enough in the time of Herodotus and tells us in flashback the tale of a man who met some of the greatest thinkers of any age: Zoroaster, Buddha and Confucius. Along the way we are given a tremendous insight into the workings of the Greek, Persian, Indian and Chinese Worlds of the 5th Century BC.

What most amazed me, however, is that the book gets better and better as it goes on with the different views of reality bouncing off each other. In that dryly-humorous way that is uniquely Vidal's, each page says something to make you stop and think.

'I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.' - Eliot, Burnt Norton. Vidal's narrator is the grandson of the prophet Zoroaster. Now, late in life, he is the Persian ambassador to the Athens of the 5th century before Christ. This is a time when Hellenism is hardly newborn in the scheme of history. The rest of Europe is an obscure and forested peninsula beyond the vision of civilisation. What the Persian ambassador describes to the listening statesman Democritus is his lifetime's experience of the Eurasian landmass from Greece to Cathay. Aboriginal, Dravidian India are already immemorially ancient and even Aryanism is already a thousand established in Northern India. The world is a mysterious levathianic, where it comes from and where its going he doesnt know, he's at a loss as to what it portends. The narrator, trapped in time, seems astonished that the world can be so dense and pregnant with meaning. The reader will perhaps recognise in his account the synchronous historical moment at which Europe, India and China were all in momentous change. Vidal should be a history professor, so effective is he at reanimating a continuum of human history otherwise closed to us. I felt that Vidal had completely me lifted out of the local Christian era while I read this book, perhaps as effectively as Eliot and Kafka transported me in 'The Four Quartets' and 'The Great Wall of China'. Human history is so ancient and so cyclical. Our own myths of recent history are brought into their proper insignificance by Vidal's perspective of historical scale. Human civilisation, in the long term, predates our farthest memories and in turn remind us how ephemeral we might be. --- Stephen Fleming

The story begins in Greece at the end of Cyrus Spitama's life. The ninety year old blind sage is recollecting his memories so they can be dictated to his nephew, Democritus. The perspective of recollection permits Cyrus to use the knowledge of future events to color his recollections of the past. Also, his scribe is permitted to make editorial comments throughout.

In childhood, Cyrus was tenuously kept alive by precarious events, alternatively faltering between favor and imminent death. Perhaps that is why he is so fascinated with death and "creation." Cyrus's mother is a master politician who keeps her thumb on the pulse of the palace, most notably the gossip among the eunuchs, and forges an alliance with the queen that keeps them alive. Eunuchs are the conduit of information due their permitted proximity with prominent members of the royal court. So, the first third of the book is a portrayal of court life at the height of the Persian Empire circa 400 BC.

Via a convoluted apotheosis, Cyrus becomes a favored ambassador of the king. The remaining two-thirds of the book, Cyrus's physical journey as ambassador for the Persian king, is really a spiritual survey of eastern religions. Only with a fictional character can such artistic license be permitted that one individual would meet the charismatic leaders of so many great religions in one lifetime: Socrates, Confucius, Lao Tse, Gosala and Buddha. Although Cyrus has been assigned by the King to investigate special trade routes through eastern kingdoms, he maintains an alternative motive to spread Zoroastrian principles through heathen lands. As a devout Zoroastrian (his grandfather was the prophet Zoroaster himself), the religions and cultures of Greece, India and China (Cathay) are presented in a critical manner by a skeptical narrator.

This is a thick book and rich with details. "Creation" by itself is a life's work and I am repeatedly awed that Vidal somehow has cranked out volumes and volumes of these historical epics. At times, Cyrus encounters so many characters so quickly that it's hard to keep everyone strait. This book is a primer in so many areas: eastern religions, cultures, and politics. The book represents a truly a mammoth project. Even Cyrus's Indian marriage is described in sordid detail. If you are only going to limit yourself to one Vidal ancient history novel, I would recommend "Julian." But this is a close second. Although the nature of "Creation" is the driving force behind the novel, Vidal presents a journey of discovery, but does not provide a simple answer. Among the great ancient religions (Christianity and Judaism are not included) the reader is left to forge his or her own conclusion.

This is one of my favorite books that I re-read from time to time I have learned a great deal of history from this book, as Mr Vidal makes history come alive. Ultimately a book on "who we are/where did we come from?" Cyrus, the narrator feels like us all. By the way, it has some of the funniest lines i have ever read in a novel, as only Gore can do!