Two Sisters

מסיבה כלשהי הספר של וידל שהשאיר עלי הכי הרבה רושם​ ( )

This is one of Gore Vidal's odder books. It is not one thing, it is several things at once: a memoir (it is said), a novel, a screenplay. Quite pomo, eh? And yet it is not a product of the unvirsity, of the U Novel, as Vidal called it; "American Plastic." It is a clever juxtaposition of forms and intents, and yet completely readable.

It has a typically brilliant Vidal opening: "Despite my protests, Marietta revealed her breasts." Though he seems to be writing about sex memoirist Anais Nin, he mentions her on the first page (cover your bets!) as a flawless writer of "handsome prose." On page 4 is the money quote, for me . . . he is talking books with the breast-bearing lady, and then reflects:

"[I]n the back of my mind, the perfect analogy to Nabokov had suddenly surfaced. James Branch Cabell. I began to compose a blurb: "Not since Cabell's 'Jurgen' has there been a novel so certain to delight the truly refined reader as Nabokov's 'Ada.'"

A droll book, quite good. Not like other fiction, unless of it can be said that NOT SINCE NABOKOV'S 'ADA' HAS THERE BEEN A NOVEL SO CERTAIN TO DELIGHT THE TRULY REFINED READER. ( )