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Creation

4.17 of 5 stars 4.17 · rating details · 1,518 ratings · 126 reviews

Once again the incomparable Gore Vidal interprets and animates history -- this time in a panoramic tour of the 5th century B.C. -- and embellishes it with his own ironic humor, brilliant insights, and piercing observations. We meet a vast array of historical figures in a staggering novel of love, war, philosophy, and adventure . . .
"There isn't a page of CREATION that doe...more

Hardcover, 574 pages

Published September 10th 2002 by Doubleday (first published 1981)

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Feb 02, 2013 Sean DeLauder rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Moonbutterfly

Shelves: vidal, all-time-bests

Persian history at the peak of the Achaemenid Empire (5th century BCE) is pretty neatly summed up in a few lines from our high school world history courses, largely in connection with Greek history. We hear a few snippets about the Persian rulers, Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes; a big paragraph about the runner who sprinted from Marathon to warn the Greeks of the Persian attack (which was comeuppance for supporting a revolt in Persia and burning the city of Sardis) and ever after served as the namesa...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Hadrian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, classical-antiquity, historical-fiction

The late Gore Vidal had a penchant for upending history, with his retellings of Burr, Lincoln, the Emperor Julian, and Roosevelt. Here, he has an irresistible setting - the memoirs and recollections of a Persian diplomat who is fed up with listening to Herodotus boast about an imagined victory (barbarians!), and retells his life to his son. He has met, and hobnobbed with, Zoroaster, Anaximander, Pericles, Socrates, the Buddha, Confucius, Xerxes, Darius, and Lao Tsi.

All of these figures (with th...more

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Jun 26, 2007 Bahram Bahrami rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: those interested in history of Irano-Greek wars.

This is a magnificent novel by Gore Vidal. I had read a translation of it many years ago. However a few weeks ago Vidal was in Toronto and that was how I began looking at the novel again. For those Iranians who were angry at the movie 300, this book works as a relief. The narrator is an imaginary Cyrus Spitama, who Vidal describes as the grandson of Zoroaster (Zarathushtra). I have to add that Zoroaster lived somewhere between 4000 to 7000 years ago. Recent studies are in favour of 7000, includi...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Dan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Despite the title's suggestion, Vidal's CREATION is less concerned with cosmogony than with trivia. I found the plot to be little more than an endless stream of factoids the author managed to compile about the 5th century BC. What color the roof tiles were in Babylon. . . how a judge of the Persian Empire called down a guilty verdict. . . what matter of cosmetics a concubine of Darius wore. . . these sort of details are far more emphasized than the occasional bumper sticker of philosophy were ar...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Shane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, read-in-2012

A long time ago I saw Gore Vidal on Bill Maher's show Politically Incorrect. I was very impressed with just about everything he said so when I saw this book at some used bookstore or thrift store (can't remember which) I picked it up. I actually started reading it and then the size of it scared me off. But now that he just died the other day I figured it would be a good time to read it.

This book took me 5 months to read (although I was reading other books at the same time). It's huge (593 pages)...more

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Mar 04, 2008 Felisa Rosa rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: history nerds, esoteric gossip hounds, and anyone in to Vidal

Recommended to Felisa by: Tom

Shelves: literature

This is not one of my favorite books of all time, but I am giving it five stars anyway because it truly is amazing. Vidal's grasp of history never fails to impress me. Creation is a long rambling journey across the fourth century B.C as viewed by Cyrus Spitama, a Persian diplomat and the grandson of Zoroaster. Vidal breaks several of the cardinal rules of fiction, and the book can seem a little exhausting at times; the lengthy conversations about ancient Greek politics would have been more inte...more

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Dec 25, 2012 amit rated it 4 of 5 stars

Really liked this book. Vidal has got to be one of, if not the best, at historical fiction. He is also hilarious at times, in a charming way.

I love the places that he spends time with in this book: Greece, the Persian Empire, India, and China. The places really come alive, and its fascinating to see his take on the Axial age, an incredible time historically in these locations.

Perhaps most of all, though, I think the "Persian" perspective on the Axial age has not been told or fully appreciated i...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Geoffrey Fox rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A 600-page travelogue on a long-gone world. Cyrus Spitama, half-Greek, half-Persian grandson of Zoroaster, boyhood friend of Xerxes, travels across the vast Persian Empire of the 5th c. BC, to India — where he marries a king's daughter and converses with holy men of various persuasions, most memorably with Gautama Buddha himself — and thence on to Cathay (China), where he becomes the prized slave of an impoverished duke, listens to Lao-Tze, and comes to know the aged Confucius intimately (they g...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Punit Soni rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, history

I fail to remember the last time I read such an intense, difficult and informative book. The only book which surpasses this one in sheer mass and complexity is War and Peace. In terms of the tremendous amount of information embedded in this historical fiction, there is none other I can think of. Gore Vidal contends that 5th century BC was one of the most creative periods of human existence. 5th century BC, the age which saw huge strides in creation and expansion of ancient civilizations, a time...more I fail to remember the last time I read such an intense, difficult and informative book. The only book which surpasses this one in sheer mass and complexity is War and Peace. In terms of the tremendous amount of information embedded in this historical fiction, there is none other I can think of. Gore Vidal contends that 5th century BC was one of the most creative periods of human existence. 5th century BC, the age which saw huge strides in creation and expansion of ancient civilizations, a time of Buddha, Mahavira, Xerves, Darius, Artaxerves, Socrates, Confucius, Pythogaros, Democedes and so many more. This was a period of giant strides in the fields of mathematics, philosophy and most importantly religion.
Gore Vidal's narrator, indeed Gore Vidal himself, is Cyrus Spitama, the grandson of Zoraster who is asked to go on a series of embassies for Darius and Xerves, the great Persian emperors of that age. In course of his travels, he journeys across large parts of India, Cathay and lands up blind and old in Greece. It is in his final embassy at Athens that he recounts all his travels to his nephew, Democretus.
Creation is a fantastic book. Historical fiction is notorious for being precisely that, fiction. It is easy to distort facts and interweave them to suit the story and many authors have been notorious for doing that. However, Gore Vidal does his homework peerlessly. Brick by brick, he builds the milieu of distant lands in even more distant times with such intricacy that soon one can smell the filthy rivers of India, feel the coolness of the Cathayan forests and walk along the city of Babylon. He constructs the social, legal, economic, religious systems of that era and most importantly he constructs the courts of those times. From the eunuchs of the persian courts to elephant politics of Indian courts, from the non-existent Emperor of middle kingdom to Ajatshatru, the vicious monarch of Magadha, one feels astounded by the scale and complexity of this book. Gore Vidal writes uncompromisingly. I had to go back many times to pick up the thread of a conversation due to the enormous numbers of characters involved in it. Managing all of them and logically placing them over a period of a few hundred years of time that this book covers is an extremely difficult job. And this remains Gore Vidal's singular achievement. Lastly, one senses that the purpose of the book was something higher than just a simple exposition on humanity in those perilous times. There is an undercurrent of curiosity at what the different philosophies of that time made of the eternal question, How and why were we created? Somewhere along the way, Gore Vidal does not try to answer the question himself but walks along with the reader through the simulation of that time that he conjures and genuinely probes for a clue. It is as if the book ceases to be a book but a minor time machine. Each one of us could take our own journey and come up with our own answers.(less)

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May 13, 2012 Stewart rated it 5 of 5 stars

Gore Vidal has written essays, plays, novels, and historical novels during a long career. His best known historical novels take place in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries: "Burr," "Lincoln," and "1876" among them. But his most ambitious historical novel, published in 1981, takes place in the fifth century B.C. with a geographic span from the Aegean Sea to the Chinese coast.
"Creation" is the story of Cyrus Spitama, the half-Persian and half-Greek grandson of the religious lea...more Gore Vidal has written essays, plays, novels, and historical novels during a long career. His best known historical novels take place in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries: "Burr," "Lincoln," and "1876" among them. But his most ambitious historical novel, published in 1981, takes place in the fifth century B.C. with a geographic span from the Aegean Sea to the Chinese coast.
"Creation" is the story of Cyrus Spitama, the half-Persian and half-Greek grandson of the religious leader Zoroaster and a Persian diplomat for Darius I and Xerxes I. While he is the Persian ambassador to Athens, the elderly Spitama dictates his life story to Democritus, he of the atomic theory.
Earlier in his life, Spitama was sent on trade missions to what are now India and China, giving him the opportunity to compare the political and religious beliefs of the Greek city states, Persia, nations in India, and the feuding kingdoms of Cathay (China). Over the course of his life, he meets many influential philosophical figures of his time, including Zoroaster, Socrates, the Buddha, Mahavira, Lao Tzu, and Confucius. We and Spitama become acquainted with the early days of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, various Indian religions, and early Greek rationalism.
The plot is fascinating, coming at the time of the so-called Axial Age, the beginning of several of the world’s major religions. But also of interest is reading about the Persian-Greek wars from the Persian point of view, something that Western readers – saturated by Herodotus and Thucydides, the Greek playwrights, and Western historians for centuries – almost never get.
It is tempting for readers to guess where the sympathies of Spitama (and the author) are when it comes to the beliefs of the religious and philosophical figures met in the novel. Confucius gets the most time and pages in the novel, Lao Tzu much less. The Buddha receives only a few paragraphs. Spitama remains a Zoroastrian and an adherent to monotheism to the end, but I sense that he found the down-to-earth philosophy of Confucius the most appealing. I am less sure where the sympathies of Vidal lie.
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Jul 11, 2011 Jipson.L.J added it

In 445 BC Cyrus Spitama, the Persian ambassador to Athens, hears Herodotus reading from his "Histories" and in response recounts to his nephew Democritus the story of his life. He has served three Persian kings and traveled to India and China; himself the grandson of Zoroaster, he has met Buddha, Gosala, Lao Tse and Confucius! This is the thesis of Creation, a historical novel which geographically spans most of the fifth century civilised world and intellectually engages with an immense range of...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Pierre A marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, history, religion, philosophy

"Outstanding historical fiction and philosophical examination" http://www.amazon.com/review/R316QQ8Q... "This book, through the person of the grandson of the founder of Zoroastrianism, scans the major world societies of the Classical age, examining the creation of several of the world's major religions and secular foundations. The book spans the Persian Empire, the Greek City States, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism along with Zoroastrianism, placing each within the human context of their foun...more

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Oct 20, 2012 David Sarkies rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy

I didn't realise that Gore Vidal could be called a revisionist when it came to his historical novels, but it only makes me want to pick up some of his books even more, namely because revisionists tend to give us an alternate view of history that is apart from the history that is generally written by the winners. This book is one of those examples, being not so much a retelling of Herodotus, but rather a version of Herodotus written from the view of a Persian.
For those who are not familiar with...more I didn't realise that Gore Vidal could be called a revisionist when it came to his historical novels, but it only makes me want to pick up some of his books even more, namely because revisionists tend to give us an alternate view of history that is apart from the history that is generally written by the winners. This book is one of those examples, being not so much a retelling of Herodotus, but rather a version of Herodotus written from the view of a Persian.
For those who are not familiar with Ancient Greek Literature, Herodotus is known as the father of History, but he is also known as the father of lies, most likely because of his portrayal of the Persians (who were the enemies of the Greeks). However, Herodotus is not strictly a history, but more of an anthropological text in which he describes many of the cultures that existed around the Eastern Mediterranean during his time. In fact a large section of his book deals with the Egyptians, and we actually learn a lot about Egyptian culture (such as the fact that they practised circumcision) that we may not have otherwise known. However, in the end, it appears that Herodotus' purpose is to demonstrate that the greatest of civilisations is that of the Greek.
Vidal tries to overturn that belief by writing from the point of view of a Persian diplomat, Cyrus Spitama. The novel begins near the end of Spitama's life, when he is posted to Greece as a diplomat. Here is spends his time discussing politics and philosophy with the philosopher Anaximander, which is interesting because when most of us think of Greek philosophers, we thing of Plato (who had not been born at this time) and Socrates (who makes an appearance described as a pest with a big nose). In a way Spitama, who was raised a Xorastrian and believed in a dualistic world, namely a world in which equal but opposite powers are forever struggling for control, is out searching for truth. In fact his journies, as he tells them to his Greek friends, have taken him to India, where he met with The Buddha, and even as far abroad as China, where he met with Confuscious.
There is little to know discussion of Greek religion in this book, namely because it is generally accepted that Greek religion was fairly primative at the time. Instead we have discussions on philosophy with one of the pre-Socratic philosophers, as well as an exploration of Xorastrianism, Buddhism, and Confuscianism. It should be noted that, with the exception of Xorastrianism, all of these religions are not strictly religions, but rather philosophies. It should also be noted that there is an acceptance that the old polytheistic religions (such as the one that Xorastrianism superceeded in Persia) were considered somewhat primative, and that a movement forward involved moving away from a world of conflicting deities, to a world with either one, or even no, deities.
Xorastrianism has been considered to be the foundation religion from which the major monotheistic religions of today arose, however I tend to disagree. It is noted by some commentators that there is a problem with Spitama being Zarathusta's grandson in that it is now suspected that he lived a lot earlier than he did in this book. I tend to fall into the position that Xorastrianism had probably been around in Persia for a while (and in fact it was probably introduced to Persia when the empire expanded to the northeast), but became popular after the fall of Babylon and the freeing of the Jews.
Vidal seems to consider that the 4th century BC was a period in which there was much expansion in human knowledge. It was during this time that Buddhism developed in India, moving away from the pantheistic Hindu religion, Xorastrianism superceeded the older Persian polytheism, as well as seeing the collapse of the Neo-babylonian empire. Greece was beginning to develop as a culture of its own, with its democratic and philosophical beliefs beginning to develop to influence the rest of the world. I believe we even have encounters with the Jews in this book, but it has been quite a while since I read it. If this is the case, then it is another break of Herodotus, who for some reason, seems to completely ignore this rather important people, who would end up having an even greater impact upon our culture.
I wish to finish off with another comment on Xorastriasm, and that is how many of us do not realise the significant impact that it has had on our culture. As well as enhancing the popularity of monotheistic religions (in that there is only one god that mattered because the other god as out to destroy us), it also introduced the concept of dualism, and that is the eternal struggle between good and evil. It was not the idea that existed beforehand, and is not the actual Christian (or Jewish position). Previously, evil was present, but weak, and this has taken hold to some extent with Christians who actually understand the bible, not so much that God is more powerful, but rather that love extinguishes evil much more than evil extinguishes love. Yet, despite all this, we are still a dualistic society, and the modern church preaches not only on a Platonic background of heaven and hell, but on a dualistic notion of good and evil. Satan is everywhere, and if we don't watch out he will ensare us and destroy us, despite the bible telling us that love will always triumph over evil. While the bible warns us about indulging in evil, the concept of love, and of evil as being selfish, has become blurred to the extent that we end up living in fear of the real world, or we align ourselves with those who seek to destroy the freedoms that we have fought so hard to obtain.(less)

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Jun 05, 2011 Perry Whitford rated it 5 of 5 stars

In many ways, Creation can lay claim to being the mother of all historical fiction novels. What a period Vidal chose to write about, he couldn't have picked a more fertile time! With a canny choice of first person narrator, and only a little economy of the accepted truths about one or two of the participants, we get to see Pericles, Xerxes, Buddha, Confucius, Socrates and Zoroaster to name just a few. That's a weighty bunch of statesmen and philosophers if ever there was one!

Persian diplomat Cyr...more

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Oct 18, 2007 Katryn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Really interesting novel about a pivotal time in human history. While I don't share the narrator's fascination with creation stories, I loved the characterizations of historical figures like Confucius, the Buddha, as well as the people of ancient Persia and Greece.

If you like Robert Graves or Steven Saylor, you'll definitely like this.

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Aug 12, 2011 Kevin Tole rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-novels, americana

The problem with Gore Vidal and his 'historical' novels is that you can be sun dazzled by his erudition whilst failing to recognise what he said himself about his historical novels - nobody knew what it was really like so my 'interpretation' is as good as any other. Interpretation yes. Elaboration? Hmmmmm. There is of course the sense that if a story is worth telling, it's worth elaborating, but then that takes us away from the 'Historical' and puts us completely into the world of the 'Novel'.

Th...more The problem with Gore Vidal and his 'historical' novels is that you can be sun dazzled by his erudition whilst failing to recognise what he said himself about his historical novels - nobody knew what it was really like so my 'interpretation' is as good as any other. Interpretation yes. Elaboration? Hmmmmm. There is of course the sense that if a story is worth telling, it's worth elaborating, but then that takes us away from the 'Historical' and puts us completely into the world of the 'Novel'.

This Vidalesque historical novel 'brick' comes in at over 650 pages and its scope is vast taking in Periclean Greece, Persia, Zoroastrianism, India, Buddhism, Confucius and China (did I leave something out....probably). The book demonstrates perfectly how an epic of this standard can be both engrossing and tedious. There are parts that I just couldn't get through and had to skip several pages. But there are also parts that are fascinating and brilliantly written. But how do you deal with it? As history...... well hardly. As a novel.... well not really is it, though the character development is worthy of a novel and the narrative runs on (and on and on and on.

And essentially the problem still remains - is this HISTORY or is this a NOVEL. How much is this a product of Vidal's very fertile and fevered imagination and how much is studied and researched (one might say GLOSSED given the enormous range covered by the book) before putting t into his novel context. I found it hard to jump between the two positions and one position mitigated against the other so that in the end it became a task to get through the complete book to the bitter end and the death of Cyrus Spitama.

This is not to say that Gore Vidal's writing is two star just that this book left me with a two start feeling. I find his novels of which Duluth and Kalki stand as excellent examples wonderfully written and expounded. I' not too sure about this book though and would urge people to find other examples of his work first.(less)

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Jul 19, 2008 Deauxboys_girl (gabrielle20) rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is my favorite Gore Vidal book (although I have not read all of his books yet). It is about a man who travels the world seeking answers about religion. Along his way he meets Socrates, Confucius, and many more people (I should write these reviews right after I finish reading the book) and discuss life and death.

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Jan 30, 2012 Mike Ratner rated it 3 of 5 stars

The premise of this book - to create a sweeping view of the world in the 5th century BC as seen through the eyes of a grandson of Zoroaster, who travels around Greece, Persia, India and China (and meets the Buddha, Lao Tse and Confucius in the process, among others) - is quite grand. Perhaps tackling such a difficult project would be too much to expect of anyone, but the book does leave a distinct impression of an unfulfilled promise. Vidal's presentation of various streams of religiious thought...more

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Sep 11, 2012 Христо Блажев rated it 5 of 5 stars

Под небе с хиляди богове – “Сътворението” на Гор Видал
Забравете. И за нелепия филм “300″, и за всички мъдротии, които сте чували за тази книга, заклеймяващи я като трудна за четене. Защото тя е дълбок и прекрасен роман, изключителен пътепис на далечни времена, на различни народи и още повече богове. Безброй богове – повече, отколкото е възможно да се въобразят дори. И сред всички тях неуморно крачи Кир Спитама, внукът на Зороастър – пророка на Единия бог, Ахура Мазда, и неговото проявление огъня...more

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Jul 24, 2007 Sean rated it 5 of 5 stars

Not only is Gore Vidal a snazzy dresser and an outspoken political analyst -- he's one of the best historical fiction authors going. This just might be one of my "marooned on an island" books.

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Jun 08, 2012 Lee Scoresby rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This tale of a fictional feckless grandson of religious founder Zoroaster has a few nuggets of interest, some good lines, and an interesting perspective on the sixth century BCE Persian empire. Cyrus Spitama flows along with the "plot" like a tin can being kicked along the road. He makes no decisions, performs no actions, accidentally meets Buddha and Confucius, and impresses Persian, Indian, and Chinese lords without really trying. He is somewhat interested in exploring other beliefs while loya...more

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Feb 01, 2009 Bryan Glosemeyer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, literature, historical-fiction, favorites

A huge, sprawling epic thru 5th century BCE. Filled with historical figures, events, cultures, and more. Really amazing. This is not an easy book of light reading, there are hundreds of names and characters and there's just no realistic way to keep track of them all, so I didn't even try. If you just focus on the main characters you'll be fine.

The narrator starts off in the ancient persian empire and travels the ancient world meeting the key figures of history from Xerxes to Socrates to Buddha h...more

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Sep 18, 2012 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-historical, read-in-2012

The ancient Persian ambassador to Athens, fictional Cyrus Spitama, grandson to famed philosopher Zoroaster, recounting his days in the 5th Century B.C. with Persian Kings Darius, Xerxes, in the days of the Athens of Herodotus (history chronicler), Pericles (General, Ruler), Anaxagoras (Sophist), Thucydides (history chronicler)

Recounting youth in Persian Court in Suma, Ecbatana, Babylon, and wars between Persians (Darius, then Xerxes) vs. Greeks (greek rebellion of tyrants, burning of sardis, Per...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Simon MacKintosh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

The world was not always as small as it is today. Perhaps, in the future, when man travels beyond our planet, our world will grow again, but for now it is probably as small as it will ever be. But there was a time when journeys were measured in months or even years, when other countries were only known through myth and rumor and the people of every country beyond yours were Barbarians, and the ‘known world’ covered less than a quarter of our globe. The reality of these times becomes the fantasy...more The world was not always as small as it is today. Perhaps, in the future, when man travels beyond our planet, our world will grow again, but for now it is probably as small as it will ever be. But there was a time when journeys were measured in months or even years, when other countries were only known through myth and rumor and the people of every country beyond yours were Barbarians, and the ‘known world’ covered less than a quarter of our globe. The reality of these times becomes the fantasy of our times in Gore Vidal’s historical epic, ‘Creation’.

The world Vidal portrays stretches from Sicily in the West to China in the East, from the central Asian pains in the North to Egypt and the Gangetic Plane in the South, boundaries a year or more apart. His protagonist, Cyrus Spitama travels from one end of this world to the other in the service of four successive Persian Emperors. The distances are invoked not so much by describing Spitama’s long and perilous journeys, but by the contrasting world views he finds in the countries he visits, and by each country’s attitude to the power of the Persian Court, which ranges from the open hostility of the Greeks to the indifference of the Chinese.

As Spitama travels across this world, he is caught up in its politics, trade and culture. Wherever he goes, he pursues an interest in the religions he encounters, and their visions of the world. Inducted into the mysteries of religion by his grandfather, the prophet Zoroaster (the book’s only significant anachronism), he admires the teachers he meets, including Buddha and Confucius. Though he is at best a half-hearted evangelist, more interested in exploring other religions than proselytizing his own, like any believer, he stays true to his religion. He leaves it to his nephew Democritus to draw the inevitable conclusion that, if all religions insist they are the only true religion, the only reasonable conclusion is that all religions are false.

Spitama’s travels bring to mind fantasy novels where the hero wanders some mythical world on his personal odyssey. But Vidal has obviously done his homework on the history of the times and, like all good historical fiction, he integrates his fictional characters and events seamlessly with the known events and characters of the time.

The book is particularly strong on the details of the Persian court and its relationships with the Greeks. To those of us raised with the Greek side of the story, it is refreshing to see the other point of view. Vidal brings realism to this side of the story by showing us that the Greece of Pericles and Socrates, the Greece of heroes and philosophers, the Greece that provided the foundation of Western society, had the same back-stabbers, manipulators, bullies, self-interest, conniving, deceit and petty squabbles as we see in our own world and our own governments.

Integrating the reality of the historical detail and the fantastical spread of Vidal's geography makes this an engrossing book.
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Feb 21, 2013 Katherine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Creation is a historical novel. One of those epic, all-encompassing, ones. It is more than just a silly "historical fiction" book- not just a fictional character wandering through a time, a vacant vessel to be a surrogate for the reader. This is deep and involved; you have to know about history, and preferably also about some world religions, before you pick it up. Vidal obviously did.

Our hero, Cyrus Spitama, is a Persian ambassador and friend of Xerxes. He is also the grandson of Zoroaster, the...more

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Mar 11, 2013 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Creation is an epic historical fiction novel originally published in 1981. In 2002, Vidal published a restored version, adding four chapters that a previous editor had cut. He also added a brief 2002 foreword explaining what had happened to the book in its original version and why he restored the cut chapters. The narrative follows the adventures of a fictional "Cyrus Spitama", an Achaemenid Persian diplomat of the 5th century BC who travels the known world comparing the political and religious...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Olivier rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, litterature-americaine

What a read this has been! This book is a tour de force in erudition. Summarizing most of the religious and philosophical beliefs of an era in fictional form is an undertaking that can go sour sooner than not but Vidal avoids the trap of being too much the scholar and sticks to the novel genre until the end. My only reservation is that despite this, the story somewhat seems like a procession of historical figures without a real plot.

But it is nonetheless a fun read if you like ancient history. E...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Miklos Hargitay rated it 5 of 5 stars

I do wish Cyrus Spitama actually existed, and Vidal's "Creation" was really the manuscript left behind. Vidal's ability to make historical fiction seem like any other historical narrative, complete with philosophy, drama (sexual and non sexual), war, and the like never ceases to amaze me, so when I picked this up, I was expected to be impressed.

This is not just a book about political dynasties or journeys to other worlds; it includes that, but its really starts with the creation of a whole polit...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Luis L. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Este libro es fundamental para entender las religiones y el pensamiento que formo esta civilización, a traves de un personaje ficticio, un enbajador griego en la edad de oro de grecia vamos descubriendo el pensamioento religioso y filosofico de esa era tan importante, ya que en esos dos siglos aparecieron las principales religiones o las que influenciaron al resto de las religiones, que vinieron despues,; el taotismo, el jainismo, el confucionismo, el budismo y el zorostrismo.
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Aug 08, 2011 James rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, philosophy, religion

It is an often remarked upon fact that the sixth century B. C. contained within it an overflow of major figures in the history of world religion and philosophy. But what if these disparate persons were all linked by one figure, like an ancient six degrees of Kevin Bacon? In his sumptuous historical novel Creation, Gore Vidal proposes a character: Cyrus Spitama, the grandson of the prophet Zoroaster, who becomes familiar not only with legendary Persians (Darius, Xerxes) or Greek(Democritus, Socra...more It is an often remarked upon fact that the sixth century B. C. contained within it an overflow of major figures in the history of world religion and philosophy. But what if these disparate persons were all linked by one figure, like an ancient six degrees of Kevin Bacon? In his sumptuous historical novel Creation, Gore Vidal proposes a character: Cyrus Spitama, the grandson of the prophet Zoroaster, who becomes familiar not only with legendary Persians (Darius, Xerxes) or Greek(Democritus, Socrates, Herodotus), but also all three of the "vinegar tasters:" the Buddha, Laozi (referred to as Master Li) and Master K'ung, better known to those us in the distant present as Confucius.

Vidal is a devastatingly witty writer, and also goes to great pains to fill out his vision ancient world with character and detail. The narrator has a plethora of pithy remarks throughout the book, which make it easy to breeze through this rather lengthy book. Although Vidal himself considers this his one of his top few great novels, maybe his greatest of all, it has its share of flaws. For one: for all learn about Cyrus Spitama, Vidal's invented narrator, he does seem, witty comments and elegant phrase-turning aside, somewhat flat and enigmatic, even after almost six-hundred pages, while at the same time appearing just a little too intelligent. Another problem is the excessive inquiries into the intrigue of the various political systems of Persia, Greece, India, and Cathay, or, as we now know it, China. While some of these scenes are compelling, often one gets lost amidst too many similar sounding ancient names; and I think I speak for many people when I say that the politics of obscure ancient Chinese lords is not as interesting as the philosophical investigations with Master Li and Confucius, although one could argue that political intrigue and Confucianism go hand in hand. Finally, the ending chapters to drag a bit, and the novel has no real conclusion, so there is a slight drop-off in quality at the end, although it's interesting to note that Vidal continues introducing new characters and producing detailed descriptions right up to the end, when, for example, we hear of Sophocles for the first time.

As for the praiseworthy aspects of the book, Vidal does much more good than bad in this vast book. His prose is elegant and highly readable, a significant accomplishment when spread over so many pages without much of a dip in quality. Putting aside the narrator for a moment, most of the principle characters are well constructed and interesting, and the dialogue between them, philosophical or otherwise, crackles. Actually, the discussions with the Eastern sages, except perhaps Confucius, are briefer than I expected, but still highlights. The Buddha, Laozi, and Confucius become three-dimensional figures before us, not just names in history books, enigmatic figures people quote to sound mysterious or mystical, but "real" human beings. That in itself is a significant accomplishment. Indeed, there is much to love about Creation, and I highly recommend this "crash course in philosophy," as Vidal called it.(less)

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About Gore Vidal

Eugene Luther Gore Vidal was an American writer known for his essays, novels, screenplays, and Broadway plays. He was also known for his patrician manner, Transatlantic accent, and witty aphorisms. Vidal came from a distinguished political lineage; his grandfather was the senator Thomas Gore, and he later became a relation (through marriage) to Jacqueline Kennedy.

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Quotes from Creation

“It is astonishing to think that millions of people in my time-now, too, I suppose-actually thought that at a given moment in history two human beings had evolved to a higher state than that of all the gods that ever were or ever will be. This is titanism, as the Greeks would say. This is madness.” — 2 people liked it

“In fact, life itself is a contradiction if only because birth is the direct cause, in every single case, of death” — 2 people liked it

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