Synopses & Reviews
A collection of short fiction, including several stories on gay themes, among them: "Three Stratagems" and "Pages from an Abandoned Journal." Well crafted, innovative fiction Gore Vidal at his best.
Review
"Mr. Vidal's most successful stories are those in which his admirable talents are brought to bear on 'the world outside.' I found 'Erlinda and Mr. Coffin' a wonderfully comic invention and its narrator a caricature of almost Dickensian intensity. But the best story in the collection is 'A Moment of Green Laurel.' Having created a narrator in whose mind past and present interpenetrate, Mr. Vidal achieves at the climax of the story a startling synthesis of terror and nostalgia." The New Republic
Review
"[His] stories range from the hilarious to the horrifying...Mr. Vidal can command as many characteristic styles as his themes suggest, for he is that comparative rarity among American novelists and dramatists, a man of letters." The Boston Globe
Table of Contents
Three stratagems -- The robin -- A moment of green laurel -- The Zenner trophy -- Erlinda and Mr. Coffin -- Pages from an abandoned journal -- The ladies in the library.