The City and the Pillar: A Novel [Paperback]

Gore Vidal (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 2, 2003

A literary cause célèbre when first published more than fifty years ago, Gore Vidal’s now-classic The City and the Pillar stands as a landmark novel of the gay experience.

Jim, a handsome, all-American athlete, has always been shy around girls. But when he and his best friend, Bob, partake in “awful kid stuff,” the experience forms Jim’s ideal of spiritual completion. Defying his parents’ expectations, Jim strikes out on his own, hoping to find Bob and rekindle their amorous friendship. Along the way he struggles with what he feels is his unique bond with Bob and with his persistent attraction to other men. Upon finally encountering Bob years later, the force of his hopes for a life together leads to a devastating climax. The first novel of its kind to appear on the American literary landscape, The City and the Pillar remains a forthright and uncompromising portrayal of sexual relationships between men.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“An artistic achievement.” —The Washington Post

“One of the best novels of its kind. . . . It isn’t sentimental, and it is frank without trying to be sensational and shocking.” —Christopher Isherwood

“A brilliant exposé of subterranean life.” —The Atlantic Monthly

“Frank, shocking . . . extremely sympathetic, penetrating and exhortive.” —New York Herald Tribune

From the Inside Flap

A literary cause célèbre when first published more than fifty years ago, Gore Vidal?s now-classic The City and the Pillar stands as a landmark novel of the gay experience.

Jim, a handsome, all-American athlete, has always been shy around girls. But when he and his best friend, Bob, partake in ?awful kid stuff,? the experience forms Jim?s ideal of spiritual completion. Defying his parents? expectations, Jim strikes out on his own, hoping to find Bob and rekindle their amorous friendship. Along the way he struggles with what he feels is his unique bond with Bob and with his persistent attraction to other men. Upon finally encountering Bob years later, the force of his hopes for a life together leads to a devastating climax. The first novel of its kind to appear on the American literary landscape, The City and the Pillar remains a forthright and uncompromising portrayal of sexual relationships between men.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (December 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400030374
• ISBN-13: 978-1400030378
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #162,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 50 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A must-read, if only for the historical significance. March 27, 2005

By Drake-by-the-Lake

Format:Paperback

Maybe it is because I was denied reading "The City and the Pillar" for fifteen years, but I really enjoyed this. I fully appeciated the era in which the book was written and the consequences suffered by Vidal, who had to give up novel-writing for a decade after the publication of novel, which portrayed The Love That Dares Not Speak Its Name. This was considered rank heresy at the time.

After discovering Gore Vidal's books in college (on my own, without the recommendation of professors), I learned that he wrote "The City and the Pillar." Having no idea then what it was about, I asked an English professor, who remembered it being about homosexuals, and advised against my bothering with it, since it would be a bad influence. Of course, this whet my appetite.

Next, I searched for this book in the campus library, unsuccessfully. Then I visited the local city library--nada. Then I searched in other college libraries...in bookstores...other city libraries... you get the drift. It became clear to me this book was Entirely Disapproved Of and Censored.

Over a decade later, with the advent of Amazon, I finally found a copy for sale and eagerly ordered it. I was not in the slightest disappointed, even though I am not unaware of its defects, as listed by reviewer "GFT", whose review I marked Helpful. Obviously, Jim, an athlete of average intelligence, is not the most interesting character to grace the pages of fiction. But Jim does not have to be. Personally, I did not care about any of the characters in the novel! Jim is merely the vehicle through which we examine, deplore, and admonish the American homosexual underground of the 1940s. This book is a time machine to another era, much like Vidal's other works.

Vidal offers faint praise for his "kindred" (for lack of a better word), but that is his way, and his attitude is the same toward almost any kind of people throughout his entire works. Vidal finds fault first; then reluctantly admits a few good points. I have grown used to his style over the years and take it in stride. He tries to be honest and frequently is.

I take exception with reviews that find this novel stupid or only for Young Adults or whatever; simply unjustified and reflective of a disappointment in finding little erotic or romantic content. Indeed, this is neither Eros' nor Aphrodite's playhouse, and do NOT purchase with such an expectation! Despite the subject matter, it is rather tame by all standards.

Well-worth reading, as well as Vidal's seven early short stories.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A haunting, spare story of a gay youth's search for love December 18, 1996

By A Customer

Format:Mass Market Paperback

While reading this apparent classic, first published years
ago, I was surprised, because it seemed so contemporary.
Apparently this novelette was one of the first to deal with
homosexuality in 'normal', untainted youths. In any case,
I liked the spare prose, which suggested
a documentary, which both suited and clarified the central
character of Jim. The images that the book invokes are
clean-edged, there is very little that is extravagant des-
cription. The basic story is of Jim and Bob, two youths
that find passion on the last day of Bob's last year of
high school. Jim is changed by this experience, and the
rest of the novel details his search for Bob, or for the
sort of wholeness being with Bob gave him. Ultimately, the
journey ends tragically, after Jim has experienced a number
of relationships, but while he is still in his early 20s.
I found the tone of the novel to be bleak, a numbed journey
from hope and optimism into nihilism at the end. Because
of the very simplicity of the story, I didn't think it made
much impression on me while reading. However, I now find
myself continually thinking of Jim and his life and it seems
the story has indeed got to me. I can't describe what it
is, but the tale has left me empty and feeling a
great deal of pity and empathy for Jim and what will happen
to him afterwards. There are some glorious moments in the
book, and the multitude of personalities in the gay world
that Vidal illustrates are varied and non-stereotypical,
surprising for a book written before supposedly
'enlightened' times. I recommend this book, as it is
a fascinating read, one thatcontinues to haunt the reader
long after the conclusion.

43 of 54 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Historically Significant; Literarily Weak February 21, 2004

By Gary F. Taylor HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

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 story. As such, it receives a tremendous amount of attention from critics and historians. Still, for all the stir it caused at the time (most newspapers wouldn't review or advertise it and many bookstores refused to carry it), it is more interesting for its history than for itself.

The story concerns Jim, an all-American boy from Virginia, who has a sexual encounter with classmate Bob just before Bob graduates from highschool and leaves town "to go to sea." This is Jim's first same-sex encounter, and with classic adolescent innocence he concludes that he and Bob are spiritual "twins." As soon as he graduates, Jim goes in search of Bob on the assumption that Bob feels the same--and driven by this obsession he too "goes to sea," and moves from port to port and eventually from relationship to relationship in search of his ever-elusive lost love.

In a sense, THE CITY AND THE PILLAR gives us a window on what it must have been like to have been a young gay man in this era; at first Jim has absolutely no frame of reference for his sexuality, and when he begins to discover that men who have sex with men are not uncommon he resists thinking of himself as "one of those." But the overwhelming problem with the novel is that Jim is not a greatly interesting person, nor is Bob, nor are any of the people that Jim encounters while he looks for Bob. It soon becomes difficult to care about Jim, much less about whether or not he will ever find Bob and what will happen if he does.

Vidal himself was not greatly happy with the novel as it was published in 1948, and he rewrote it for a 1960s reprint. (The original 1948 version, which has a very different ending and slightly different tone, is no longer widely available.) But in rewriting the novel, Vidal did not go far enough: the characters are just as tedious in the second version as they were in the first. While I applaud Vidal for taking on such then-hot subject matter, I can't really praise what he did with it either originally or in the rewrite. Fortunately, if you feel you must read the novel due to its historical significance, it is fairly short--and that, really, is the best thing I can say for it.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer