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Burr A Novel Gore Vidal Books

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Burr A Novel Gore Vidal Books

Burr was my first introduction to Gore Vidal's panoramic vision of American history, and I have to admit that the first time I picked up the book I drifted off and put it down, disappointed by the early focus on elderly Aaron Burr's marriage to a wealthy widow. I wanted an inside account (albeit fictionalized) of the revolutionary years, intimate portraits of men like Jefferson, Washington, Arnold and Hamilton, as well as accounts of the famous duel and Burr's subsuquent political travails and treason trial.
Alas, I should have given the book a little more time. When it picks up and the mythical autobiographical journal of Burr begins, this novel becomes entertainment of the highest order. Burr, through Vidal, writes a wickedly amusing first-hand account of many of the seminal points in our nation's young history, from the winter at Valley Forge to Benedict Arnold's early success as a general. In telling his story, Burr never passes up an opportunity to point out George Washington's ineptitude as a field general or his plumpness, Jefferson's lack of military duty and his resemblance to the mulatto children living at Monticello, Ethan Allen's lack of popularity with his superiors, etc. Nobody is spared, nothing is sacred in a Gore Vidal novel.
As for the historical accuracy, Vidal points out in an afterword that with a couple of very minor anachronisms (which he details), every character in the book acts as he or she did in real life - their speech and writings are borrowed from actual correspondence, and the historical events depicted are painstakingly researched (Vidal took 10 years to write the book). Even narrator Charlie Schuyler's girlfriend, the prostitute Helen Jewitt, is based upon a real life character. So while some graduate students might object to a phrase or two, and perhaps some Jeffersonians will object to the two-faced opportunist Jefferson portrayed here, for most of us with a casual interest in history the book educates as it entertains.


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Burr A Novel Gore Vidal Books Reviews

This is the greatest novel that I've ever read. Thanks to Vidal's Burr, I'm now wild about a topic that I snoozed through in high school early American history. Somehow, Gore Vidal has done what PBS has spent millions and decades trying to do he's made learning fun. Prior to reading this novel, I wouldn't have believed that I could enjoy a work of fiction containing a long list of dates, facts, political explanations about the founders' differences and motives, and a list of characters broad enough to capture even the most mundane participants in America's earliest days. But Vidal wove all that together into an exciting tale told by the perfect narrator and ending with the perfect conclusion. Vidal caused me to fall in love with the history of my country, and I can't wait to finish the rest of the series.
Gore Vidal's "Burr" is everything an historical novel should be, and more. Aaron Burr, along with Benedict Arnold, were America's original bad boys. Vidal's novel goes a long way in humanizing Burr, but does not necessarily minimize his notoriety. Rather, Vidal's novel reflects a plausible portrait of the only vice-president to literally get away with murder.

Vidal does equally well personifying Burr's contemporaries. Despite our lionized perception of giants such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, these men were human and, therefore, necessarily were not perfect. We are presented these heroes with blemishes and all, literally down to the carbuncles on Washington's backside.

Nor, in all likelihood, were bad boys completely despicable. Burr was a scoundrel, but a somewhat charming one at that. In Vidal's novel we discover an affable Burr who remains scheming but amiable to the end of his long life.

A particular strength of "Burr" is the construct of the narrative. Vidal moves seamlessly back and forth from the turbulent Revolutionary years of our Republic through the Jacksonian era. The former is captured in the oral and written memoirs of Colonel Burr, the later in the story of Charlie Schuyler, a fictional protégée of Burr who is writing an authorized biography of the notorious celebrity.

The depth of Vidal's research is not lost on the reader. Even when he segues into fiction, Vidal remains true to the gossip of the day. A central theme in the novel is Schuyler's attempt to track down juicy tidbits about the unsubstantiated rumor that Martin Van Buren was Burr's illegitimate son. The novel ends with a surprising variation on this theme.

Particularly interesting is Vidal's presentation of how Burr viewed his infamous duel with Alexander Hamilton. Surprisingly, Hamilton is not demonized by Burr nearly so much as is Jefferson. The author of the Declaration of Independence is portrayed as the shrewd and hypocritical politician that he probably was, albeit not to the level of odiousness portrayed by his own vice-president.

"Burr" is the earliest in a series of historical novels that feature various luminaries and periods of American history. This novel may well entice you to read the others, as it has done so for me.
Chronologically, this is the first in Gore Vidal's epic series spanning American history though two centuries.
History is written by the "winners", so it is fresh to see the events trough cynical fictional glasses. It is hard to imagine
someone so far on the way up in U. S. politics falling so far down. There is Nixon, of course. Then all the recent sex scandals involving candidates.

But what is the story behind Burr? Treason, or was he "had"?. It still goes on for anyone who has read the Man Without a Country."

The bitterness must be there. He killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Years later in the novel he visits the monument to Hamilton erected on the "sacred" spot decorated by pigeon droppings. He muses about if the duel had gone the other way, then the bastard from the islands would be forgotten and penniless, and Aaron Burr would be the hero. Could be.

A fun read for history buffs.
Burr was my first introduction to Gore Vidal's panoramic vision of American history, and I have to admit that the first time I picked up the book I drifted off and put it down, disappointed by the early focus on elderly Aaron Burr's marriage to a wealthy widow. I wanted an inside account (albeit fictionalized) of the revolutionary years, intimate portraits of men like Jefferson, Washington, Arnold and Hamilton, as well as accounts of the famous duel and Burr's subsuquent political travails and treason trial.
Alas, I should have given the book a little more time. When it picks up and the mythical autobiographical journal of Burr begins, this novel becomes entertainment of the highest order. Burr, through Vidal, writes a wickedly amusing first-hand account of many of the seminal points in our nation's young history, from the winter at Valley Forge to Benedict Arnold's early success as a general. In telling his story, Burr never passes up an opportunity to point out George Washington's ineptitude as a field general or his plumpness, Jefferson's lack of military duty and his resemblance to the mulatto children living at Monticello, Ethan Allen's lack of popularity with his superiors, etc. Nobody is spared, nothing is sacred in a Gore Vidal novel.
As for the historical accuracy, Vidal points out in an afterword that with a couple of very minor anachronisms (which he details), every character in the book acts as he or she did in real life - their speech and writings are borrowed from actual correspondence, and the historical events depicted are painstakingly researched (Vidal took 10 years to write the book). Even narrator Charlie Schuyler's girlfriend, the prostitute Helen Jewitt, is based upon a real life character. So while some graduate students might object to a phrase or two, and perhaps some Jeffersonians will object to the two-faced opportunist Jefferson portrayed here, for most of us with a casual interest in history the book educates as it entertains.