Gore Vidal has been a prolific writer all of his life and may be best known for his 3rd novel, The City and the Pillar, written in 1948. You might expect a story that is nearly 60 years old to feel dated. My colleagues at the CGM Reading Group certainly thought so, but I felt that some of the core themes remain relevant.
The story is a history lesson about growing up gay in that era. Being homosexual meant being a man who wanted to be a woman and doing what women do. Jim Williard, the main character in this book, knows that he is not a woman; ergo, he is not gay. He spends a lot of time trying to reconcile this fact with his emerging feelings and—more so—obsessions.
After a bleak introduction which portends a much more tragic ending than is delivered, Jim is introduced as a high school junior attending his best friend’s graduation. Jim’s friendship with Bob Ford is about to catch fire, sort of. A weekend together in a cabin between the horny boys sets the stage for a divergence of interpretation. Bob is off to sea as a Merchant Marine; Jim will finish high school and then launch on a seven year pursuit of Bob, to pick up where they left off at the cabin.
Thoughout the journey, Jim meets many characters: men, women, straight, gay. Unfortunately, none of the characters are particularly memorable. Paul Sullivan’s deliberate implosion, while curious, doesn’t help. Even Jim is a character undeserving of a sequel. Imagine Brian Kinney from Queer as Folk stripped of his humor and compassion. That’s Jim.
Mystery and implications are usually a good thing, but some in this story border on annoying here. For example, the plot implies that a seargant seduces a corporal that Jim failed to seduce; Jim is furious. But was the corporal seduced? He didn’t seem very gay to me. I think that the seargant knows that the implication will set Jim off.
The title of the book derives from Genesis, the story of Sodom. You may recall that God told Lot not to look at the destruction of Sodom, but Lot’s wife couldn’t help herself and *poof* she became a pillar of salt that some nearby cows licked to death. The moral of the story is that one should not dwell so much on the past...it probably means less than you think. Seems like good advice today.
Enjoy this bit of history, if you can get past the weak characters.