What, if anything, is Gore Vidal up to in this long, stylish,
densely busy but totally undramatic novel of the Persian Empire,
circa 520-445 B.C.? Occasionally he seems to be interested in
presenting shrewd alternative versions of textbook history
(particularly the Greek-Persian wars), the sort of dusted-off,
backroom politics he managed quite well in his American historicals
(Burr, 1876). More often he settles down into comparative theology
- as his narrator, a grandson of prophet Zoroaster, is somehow able
to visit all the great Greek philosophers and Eastern mystics of
this remarkable era (Buddha, Confucius, etc.), trying on their
theories and asking them the Great Questions. But most of the time
Vidal merely seems content to string along incidents, anecdotes,
artifacts, and rituals of the period - in a sort of picaresque
travelogue with little shape and no momentum whatsoever. We begin
in Athens, 445 B.C., where old, blind Cyrus Spitama - the
ambassador from Persia - is infuriated by Herodotus' version of
"the Persian wars" and responds by dictating his memoirs to nephew
Democritus. Cyrus remembers his early years: his special status (as
grandson of prophet Zoroaster) at the intrigue-ridden court of
Great King Darius, where he grows up alongside Darius' son Xerxes -
who saves Cyrus' life (a raging-boar attack), leads some youthful
pranks in licentious Babylon, but will always feel doomed because
of Darius' usurpation (via murder) of the Persian throne. Cyrus
also recalls the real cause of the Greek-Persian Wars - the
meddling, opportunistic advice of ambitious Greek hangers-on at
Darius' court - and his own efforts to encourage Persian expansion
to the east rather than the west. And, chiefly, Cyrus recollects
his journeys to the east as Persia's trade-treaty ambassador. To
India in search of iron and allies ("If Darius was obliged to walk
about naked with a broom in order to gain India, he would") - where
he hears the credos of Gosala, Mahavira, and Buddha, witnesses a
horse sacrifice, takes an Indian wife, survives a flood, and
observes treacherous palace revolutions. And then, after a brief
sojourn back in Persia (Xerxes' ascension), to Cathay - where he is
taken prisoner, sees vast human sacrifices, meets the sage of
Taoism (here called Li Tzu), and gets deeply involved in the
power-struggle between a Cathayan dictator and Confucius. (Cyrus
finds Confucius a "nag" and an atheist. . . but the most impressive
man of all.) This brings Cyrus up to about age 40 - and then Vidal,
apparently running out of energy, wraps up the next 20 years of his
life (the decline and murder of Xerxes, more Greek-Persian
conflict) in about 50 pages. . . plus an epilogue in which nephew
Democritus suggests his atomic theory as an answer to Cyrus'
eternal question: who created the world? Unfortunately, this loose
theological-quest framework - what happens when a monotheistic,
Heaven/ Hell believer is exposed to the gamut of Eastern philosophy
or Western science? - is hardly enough to hold Vidal's meandering
novel together. And though Cyrus' crisp, sarcastic tone often
livens things up, the sheer onslaught of names and places and
byzantine mini-plots (none of them developed with any depth or
drama) will leave most readers confused and disappointed. Lots of
jauntily fictionalized fact, legend, geography, and exotic cultural
sociology, then - but only those with a great knowledge of (or
appetite for) this theo-historical territory will want to ride
along the whole length of Cyrus' journey. (Kirkus Reviews)
Vidal's historical novel set in the 5th century BC and narrated by
Cyrus Spitama, son of a Persian prince and Greek sorceress,
grandson of the prophet Zoroaster, and ambassador to the courts of
India, China and Greece. Pericles, Thucydides, Sophocles and
Confucius are among the book's characters.
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