Dec 31, 2009

Two Sisters: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir | Characters

The main narrative is in the form of musings on the passing scene by a character named Gore Vidal. Despite this persona's disclaimer that "he" invents everything in "his" novels, Vidal uses the persona not only to express his own views on life and art but also to make a number of daring personal revelations about his sex life. Interesting minor characters who pass through this portion of the work include Marietta Donegal, largely a caricature of Anais Nin, and Fryer Andrews, to some extent a caricature of Norman Mailer. Vidal deftly diffuses possible accusations of defamation of...