Myra Breckenridge/Myron [Paperback]

Gore Vidal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 1987

The first paperback edition to combine Gore Vidal's brilliant and energetic fantasy Myra Breckinridge with its sequel, Myron. "A moral masterpiece."--The Times (London) 10,000 print.

Product Details

• Paperback: 417 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage contemporaries ed edition (September 12, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394754441
• ISBN-13: 978-0394754444
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 4.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #525,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gore Vidal has received the National Book Award, written numerous novels, short stories, plays and essays. He has been a political activist and as Democratic candidate for Congress from upstate New York, he received the most votes of any Democrat in a half-century.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars witty & outrageously funny book, May 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Myra Breckinridge/Myron (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

Vidal's Myra Breckinridge is one of the most insightful books I have come across in all of my extensive reading. Through outrageous humor and wit, Gore Vidal communicates powerful messages about sexuality, psychology, and the human condition. The reader follows Myra Breckinridge from her arrogant and obnoxious narcissism to a complete transformation which has such an impact, I don't dare try to describe it. This book is wonderfully one-dimensional on the surface, but a bit of thought reveals it's depth and perceptiveness; so cleverly hidden it seems to jump out and bite in a few incredible sentences! I am recommending this book for anyone who is questioning traditional and orthodox views of the world, or their own sexuality.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Once upon a time, when there was no such thing as PC...., February 15, 2001

By 

Itamar Ronen (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Myra Breckinridge/Myron (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

It's wonderful to go through the various reviews and realize that this book, written in part in 1968 and then, the "sequel", in 1973, stirrs the same controversy it did when it was published. And I'm sure Gore Vidal, one of the most remarkable American writers and thinkers of the previous century, is having a great deal of fun out of it. In a way (and not in every way), Gore Vidal is a great writer/thinker resembling the way Voltaire was one: it's not necessarily any specific work that makes him *the* thinker/writer of his age (well, in the case of Voltaire, "Candide" does weaken my argument...), but it is his combined output that makes him the unabashed, non-PC voice of his generation. And Gore Vidal does it with great panache in Myra Breckinridge/Myron. There are few issues that remained untouched - anything from linguistic deterioration (the Californian drowning in the ocean yelling : "like, Help!"), film theory, sexuality, politics (Nixon is an important protagonist), what not. And mud is slung in all dierctions, and the goal justifies any means... It is hilarious from beginning to end, and even if one is not familiar with the dozens of B-movies and their actors mentioned in the book, and allowing for some repetitiveness here and there - reading this book is a wicked joy. A previous review rightly mentions that this book is not for everyone: the sexual and surgical activity (sometimes combined) are very explicit, and Myra has on her agenda young and healthy all-American dudes to be anally penetrated (for some very good reasons, as we learn...), but if you wish to make sure that there's still someone looking at this world with X-ray glasses - read Gore Vidal, and read Myra/Myron.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two unforgettable novels with one amazing, twisted character, February 26, 2005

By 

gac1003 "gac1003" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Myra Breckinridge/Myron (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

MYRA BRECKINRIDGE moves to Hollywood in order to collect the inheritance left by her husband Myron. The one problem is Uncle Buck Loner who stands between her and the property - a profitable school for would be actors run by Buck. Myra is certain that everything will turn out her way, as she is the New American Woman. Every man wants her, but none may have her. However, there is a twist to Myra that will throw her plans into turmoil if anyone finds out.

This is a darkly comic book with one of the most intriguing of characters in Myra Breckinridge. She is self-confidant (perhaps overly so), knows how to control and manipulate both men and women to fulfill her wishes, and determined not to let anything stop her. She is ready to change the world to suit her. In other words, a force to be reckoned with. I also liked that she patterned herself after movie heroines and relates to people as though they were characters in a movie, shown for her benefit.

The novel itself is written as a series of diary entries, written by Myra as events happen. This gives an immediacy to the story and makes the reader feel as though he/she is a part of the action. The twist in the story is definitely a shocking one; I admit that it threw me for a loop. I can only imagine its impact when the book was published in 1968 with the sexual revolution just underway. An incredible book.

MYRON: This sequel to "Myra Breckinridge" follows poor Myron as he battles against Myra, only this time they've somehow become stuck in the 1948 movie "Siren of Babylon." It's a strange world, the Hollywood of 1948, and Myron tries frantically to return to 1973 and his beloved Richard M. Nixon while Myra has plans of her own to both bring back the glory of MG Studios by fixing "Siren" and to curb the human population growth by re-forming man in her image - strong, sterile Amazonian woman. Her one problem: Myron and how to keep him from escaping the film.

It's a totally bizarre and wonderfully campy look at Hollywood of the 1940s but seen through the eyes of the 1970s. And, like its predecessor, is written in journal entries so you're in the action as it happens from the characters' perspectives. A great piece of fantasy fiction.