Hollywood (Abridged)

Vidal's Hollywood As A Narrative Of Empire

The controversial public figure and prolific author Gore Vidal (1925 -- 2012) wrote seven historical novels on American history called the "Narratives of Empire Series" with the overall goal of showing how, in his view, the United States developed from a small republic to an overbearing, militaristic empire. The fifth novel in the series in terms of chronological history is "Hollywood" (1990). The novel begins in 1916 following Woodrow Wilson's election to a second term to the presidency. It moves forward through the election of Wilson's successor, Warren Harding, up to Harding's death in office in 1923. Most of the story is set in Washington, D.C. Substantial sections, however, are set in Hollywood, and the novel appears to draw several broad connections between the rise of film and American political life.

Most of the characters in the book are historical figures, but some are fictitious. Most of what the book does well involves the historical events of the day. Thus the novel opens with the Zimmerman Telegram in which Germany tried to enlist Mexico's assistance for a war against the United States. This telegram was critical factor in America entering the war after it tried hard to maintain neutrality. The book offers a good portrayal of the influenza epidemic, which resulted in more deaths world-wide than did the Great War, of the negotiations in Versailles, following the War, of the suppression of dissent in the United States during the conflict, of the rise of feminism, of American racism, and much more. The book also portrays the rise of the Hollywood film industry. Some of the historical characters in the book are described well, including President Wilson, his second wife, Edith Wilson, Harding, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge and others. There is an effective portrayal of the aging curmudgeonly Henry Adams together with several apt brief quotations from the American philosopher George Santayana. Vidal has an eye for detail and often writes effective scenes on the backrooms of American politics. He also describes places well, including places I have come to know from living in Washington, D.C. Much of the book is written with flair, tartness and irreverence. The writing style on the whole effectively moves the book along.

Hollywood becomes involved in the book as a result of the United States' entry into the War. Among other ways for garnering public support for an unpopular war, Hollywood was asked to make films supporting the war effort and vilifying the enemy. One such movie receives a great deal of attention in the work, as a fictitious character in the novel stars in a film in which her character is abused and raped by German soldiers. Together with encouraging Hollywood to make pro-war films, films that were deemed hostile to the United States or to the war effort sometimes faced suppression and producers and directors faced jail time. The novel also shows how the situation changed with time as Hollywood producers and directors realized the scope of their new medium to reach a broad audience. They frequently made movies critical of what they saw as American values and politics. Vidal shows this tension in varying ways of using film which has persisted well beyond the time frame covered in this novel. Another way Hollywood is used in this book is as metaphor. The book portrays Hollywood as shallow, concerned with appearances and making an appeal to a broad unthinking public rather than with producing works of merit. Broadly, Vidal thinks these traits apply to the American political process which on all sides receives a less than flattering portrayal in this book.

This novel has its moments, but it didn't work for me. The events of the day and some of the characterizations are effective but the novel is disjointed. It lacks a sustained plot, The book moves back and forth between politics, Hollywood, sex, and other aspects of the lives of its real and fictitious characters. The work never comes together as a whole and the overall effect is one of tedium. There is too much wordy dialogue at the expense of historical understanding. While the author's erudition and language are often admirable, this book works neither as a novel nor as a history of its era. Historical novels can have a valuable role in illuminating history and in telling a story that are not available within the constraints of a study limited to the historical record. This book didn't convince me as a history or as a novel.

Robin Friedman