Burr | Burr

At a glance:

Author: Gore Vidal
First Published: 1973
Type of Plot: Historical chronicle
Time of Work: 1776-1840
Setting: New York, Washington, D.C., and the western states and territories
Principal Characters: Aaron Burr, Eliza Bowen Jumel, Charles Schuyler, Helen Jewett, William Cullen Bryant, William Leggett, Washington Irving, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, James Madison, John Marshall, John Randolph, James Wilkinson
Genres: Long fiction
Subjects: New York
Locales: New York, NY

Burr begins on July 1, 1833, with a special dispatch from the New York Evening Post announcing the marriage of “Colonel Aaron Burr, aged seventy-seven” to “Eliza Jumel, born Bowen fifty-eight years ago (more likely sixty-five but remember: she is prone to litigation!).” The author of the dispatch, and narrator of the novel, is Charles Schuyler, who is studying law under Burr, an attorney still active in the affairs of love and politics. Schuyler’s narrative intended to resolve some of the confusion and the conflicting claims that mark...

Burr | Burr

At a glance:

The Novel

Join eNotes