Clouds and Eclipses, Gore Vidal
Clouds and Eclipses, Gore Vidal
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Clouds and Eclipses
The Collected Short Stories

Author: Gore Vidal

Narrator: Emily Sutton-Smith, Christopher Lane

Unabridged: 3 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/19/2019

Categories: Fiction, Short Stories

Synopsis

Celebrated for more than fifty years as a world-renowned novelist, essayist, and political figure and commentator, Gore Vidal is less known for the exquisitely crafted short fiction he wrote as a young man. Like the work of Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams, his stories have been overshadowed by the author’s triumphs writing in other genres. Still, Vidal’s short fiction offers us a portrait of the young artist in the 1940s and 1950s. His subtle and comic tales often center on adolescence and homosexual themes. In “Three Stratagems,” a middle-aged gay man encounters a male prostitute while vacationing in Key West. In “The Zenner Trophy,” the star athlete at an elite boys school is expelled for sexual relations with a classmate. These stories were gathered along with five others into a 1956 volume, A Thirsty Evil, and for decades were thought to comprise Vidal’s complete short fiction.

About Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal (1925–2012) was born at the United States Military Academy at West Point. His first novel, Williwaw, written when he was 19 years old and serving in the army, appeared in the spring of 1946. He wrote 23 novels, five plays, many screenplays, short stories, well over 200 essays, and a memoir.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Cathy on June 22, 2013

One of my favorite Florida authors, James W. Hall was in St. Augustine a few years ago and when I met him I told him I had read all of his books, poetry and short stories. One story I even read twice. He asked with a playful smile, “You didn't get it the first time?” “No,” I explained, “it was in tw......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth (Alaska) on April 08, 2016

Seven of these stories were originally published in 1956 under the title A Thirsty Evil. The title story was written at about the same time, but at the request of his friend, Tennessee Williams, it was withheld from publication at that time. Vidal was reminded of this story by a Harvard archivist in......more

Goodreads review by Sara on July 29, 2009

I adore this collection. Each story was a portrait of an intriguing character. I felt as if I actually knew these people and not that they were contrived purely for a reader's entertainment. Before starting this book I was a little wary because of its less than stellar reviews. Upon completion I'm p......more

Goodreads review by Ted on September 07, 2017

This is my first time to read anything by Gore Vidal. I absolutely loved a collection of short stories. Written in a simple direct style, but nevertheless prose that is both absorbing and elegant, this is to my mind, a little masterpiece. The plot of each story has a twist, which while never explici......more

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