Author | Gore Vidal |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Satire |
Publisher | Little, Brown |
Publication date | February 29, 1968 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 264 |
ISBN | 1-125-97948-8 |
Followed by | Myron |
Myra Breckinridge is a 1968 satirical novel by Gore Vidal written in the form of a diary. Described by the critic Dennis Altman as "part of a major cultural assault on the assumed norms of gender and sexuality which swept the western world in the late 1960s and early 1970s", [1] the book's major themes are feminism, transsexuality, American expressions of machismo and patriarchy, and deviant sexual practices, as filtered through an aggressively camp sensibility. The controversial book is also "the first instance of a novel in which the main character undergoes a clinical sex-change". [2] Set in Hollywood in the 1960s, the novel also contains candid and irreverent glimpses into the machinations within the film industry.
Myra Breckinridge was dismissed by some of the era's more conservative critics as pornographic at the time of its first publication in February 1968; nevertheless, the novel immediately became a worldwide bestseller and has since come to be considered a classic in some circles. "It is tempting to argue that Vidal said more to subvert the dominant rules of sex and gender in Myra than is contained in a shelf of queer theory treatises", wrote Dennis Altman. [3] Critic Harold Bloom cites the novel as a canonical work in his book The Western Canon. [4] Vidal called Myra the favorite of his books, [5] and published a sequel, Myron , in 1974.
The novel was adapted into a 1970 film of the same name, which was panned. [6] [7] [8] Vidal disowned the film, calling it "an awful joke". [9] [10]
In his 1995 memoir Palimpsest, Vidal said the voice of Myra may have been inspired by the "megalomania" of Anaïs Nin's diaries. [11] Indeed, the story is told through increasingly erratic entries in Myra's own personal diary and recordings on events given by Buck Loner.
A beautiful young woman, Myra Breckinridge is a film enthusiast with a special interest in the Golden Age of Hollywood—in particular the 1940s—and the writings of film critic Parker Tyler. In her notebook, she declares her mission is to “re-create the sexes and thus save the human race from certain extinction.” She comes to the Academy for Aspiring Young Actors and Actresses in Los Angeles, owned by her deceased husband Myron's uncle, Buck Loner, a former cowboy actor and current lecher. Myra’s purpose in visiting Buck is to claim her mother-in-law Gertrude’s share of the property, left jointly to Buck and Gertrude by their father when it was an undeveloped orange grove, and through Myron’s will transmitted to her. The property is now worth $2 million. Intending to stall her as long as possible, Buck declares his lawyers will look into the matter; in the meantime, he offers Myra work at the Academy teaching the Empathy and Posture classes.
Myra proves radically popular with the students, while soon becoming a thorn in Buck’s side. At a student’s party, after "mixing gin and marijuana", Myra gets "stoned out of her head" and suffers visions before passing out in a bathroom. Myra attends an orgy arranged by a student. She intends only to observe but suffers a "rude intrusion" by a member of the band The Four Skins, from which she derives a perverse, masochistic enjoyment.
Out of an obscure desire to be avenged on the male sex for the indignities suffered by Myron during his long period of homosexuality, Myra preys upon a student named Rusty Godowski, a muscular ex-footballer, and ultimately anally violates him with a strap on. The rape causes Rusty’s relationship with Mary-Ann, his girlfriend and fellow student (whom Myra has taken under her wing), to deteriorate. The two break up, and Rusty begins a relationship with Letitia Van Allen, a casting agent who has sex with the male clients she represents. Rusty, previously a gentle lover, has been transformed by his assault at Myra’s hands into a violent and brutish sex partner, to Letitia’s great delight. Myra’s lesbian overtures to Mary-Ann, conversely, are continually frustrated.
Meanwhile, in a meeting in Buck’s office his lawyers produce a trump card: no death certificate exists for Myron Breckinridge in New York, and if he is not dead his will has no legal bearing. At this juncture, Myra stands and reveals her vaginoplasty scars, disclosing that she and Myron are the same person and that she is thus entitled to Gertrude’s share of the property. Frightened, disgusted and sickened, Buck concedes defeat, privately commenting that if he could get away with murdering her he would.
Soon after her triumph, Myra is severely injured in a hit-and-run car accident, and while she is comatose in hospital her breast implants are removed. Upon discovering this when her plaster casts are taken off, Myra attempts suicide. The novel ends with a time-skip to three years in the future; Myra is now living as Myron and is married to Mary-Ann; the two have found moderate success in showbiz, and Myron wonders how he could ever have held such grandiose aspirations.
Vidal first contemplated writing Myra Breckinridge as a sketch for the risqué revue Oh! Calcutta! but quickly decided to develop the story into a novel. He wrote the first draft in Rome over the course of a month. About two weeks into writing the novel, Vidal decided to make Myra transgender. [12] The name "Breckinridge" was taken from Bunny Breckinridge, an associate of director Ed Wood, and a stage performer whose openly gay, flamboyantly transgressive life partly inspired Vidal's novel. [13]
According to critic Robert F. Kiernan, Myra Breckinridge explores the mutability of gender-role and sexual-orientation as being social constructs established by social mores. [14] The first novel whose main character undergoes a clinical sex-change, it was praised by Edmund Miller as "a brilliantly chosen image for satire of contemporary mores." [2] Arnie Kantrowitz called the titular character a "comic surrogate [who] looks at life from both sides" and "wields a wicked dildo in her war against gender roles". [15] Joseph Cady wrote that the novel "skewers conventional American sexuality". [16]
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the social and sexual norms he perceived as driving American life. Vidal was heavily involved in politics, and unsuccessfully sought office twice as a Democratic Party candidate, first in 1960 to the United States House of Representatives, and later in 1982 to the United States Senate.
The City and the Pillar is the third published novel by American writer Gore Vidal, written in 1946 and published on January 10, 1948. The story is about a young man who is coming of age and discovers his own homosexuality.
LGBTQ themes in speculative fiction include lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) themes in science fiction, fantasy, horror fiction and related genres.[a] Such elements may include an LGBTQ character as the protagonist or a major character, or explorations of sexuality or gender that deviate from the heteronormative.
Richard Cromwell also known as Roy Radabaugh, was an American actor. His career was at its pinnacle with his work in Jezebel (1938) with Bette Davis and Henry Fonda and again with Fonda in John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). Cromwell's fame was perhaps first assured in The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), with Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone.
Gay literature is a collective term for literature produced by or for the gay community which involves characters, plot lines, and/or themes portraying male homosexual behavior.
Harrison Parker Tyler, was an American author, poet, and film critic. Tyler had a relationship with underground filmmaker Charles Boultenhouse (1926–1994) from 1945 until his death. Their papers are held by the New York Public Library.
Myron is a novel by American author Gore Vidal, published in 1974. It was written as a sequel to his 1968 bestseller Myra Breckinridge. The novel was published shortly after an anti-pornography ruling by the Supreme Court; Vidal responded by replacing the profanity in his novel with the names of the Justices involved
Rose Troche is an American film and television director, television producer, and screenwriter.
Breckinridge may refer to:
Bisexual erasure, also called bisexual invisibility, is the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or re-explain evidence of bisexuality in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources.
Myra Breckinridge is a 1970 American comedy film based on Gore Vidal's 1968 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Michael Sarne, and featured Raquel Welch in the title role. It also starred John Huston as Buck Loner, Mae West as Leticia Van Allen, Farrah Fawcett, Rex Reed, Roger Herren, and Roger C. Carmel. Tom Selleck made his film debut in a small role as one of Leticia's "studs." Theadora Van Runkle was costume designer for the film, though Edith Head designed West's costumes.
Duluth is a 1983 novel by Gore Vidal. He considered it one of his best works, as did Italo Calvino, who wrote, "Vidal's development...along that line from Myra Breckinridge to Duluth, is crowned with great success, not only for the density of comic effects, each one filled with meaning, not only for the craftsmanship in construction, put together like a clock-work which fears no word processor, but because this latest book holds its own built-in theory, that which the author calls 'après post-structuralism'. I consider Vidal to be a master of that new form which is taking shape in world literature and which we may call the hyper-novel or the novel elevated to the square or the cube."
Pegging is an anal sex act in which a woman penetrates a man's anus with a strap-on dildo.
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This article addresses the history of transgender people in the United States from prior to Western contact until the present. There are a few historical accounts of transgender people that have been present in the land now known as the United States at least since the early 1600s. Before Western contact, some Native American tribes had third gender people whose social roles varied from tribe to tribe. People dressing and living differently from the gender roles typical of their sex assigned at birth and contributing to various aspects of American history and culture have been documented from the 17th century to the present day. In the 20th and 21st centuries, advances in gender-affirming surgery as well as transgender activism have influenced transgender life and the popular perception of transgender people in the United States.
George Albert "Scotty" Bowers, active from 1945 to 1980, is best known for procuring prostitutes for Hollywood industry insiders, many closeted about bisexual or homosexual liaisons. Bowers was described as having "a savant-like quality: a result of his refusal to be embarrassed by sex."
John Mitzel was a Boston writer, publisher, bookseller, and gay community and cultural activist.
Straightwashing is portraying LGBT or otherwise queer characters in fiction as heterosexual (straight), making LGB people appear heterosexual, or altering information about historical figures to make their representation comply with heteronormativity.
Transgender literature is a collective term used to designate the literary production that addresses, has been written by or portrays people of diverse gender identity.