   myra breckinridge is a 1968 satirical novel by gore vidal written in the form of a diary. it was made into a movie in 1970. described by the critic dennis altman as "part of a major cultural assault on the assumed norms of gender and sexuality which swept the western world in the late 1960s and early 1970s,"altman, dennis. gore vidal's america. cambridge uk: polity press, 2005. p. 132. the book's major themes are feminism, transsexuality, american expressions of machismo and patriarchy, and deviant sexual practices, as filtered through an aggressively camp sensibility. set in hollywood in the 1960s, the novel also contains candid and irreverent glimpses into the machinations within the film industry. the book was dismissed by some of the era's more conservative critics as pornographic at the time of its first publication in february 1968, but nevertheless immediately became a worldwide bestseller and has since come to be considered a classic in some circles. "it is tempting to argue that vidal said more to subvert the dominant rules of sex and gender in myra than is contained in a shelf of queer theory treatises," wrote dennis altman.altman, dennis. gore vidal's america. cambridge uk: polity press, 2005. p. 148. critic harold bloom cites myra breckinridge as a canonical work in his book the western canon.bloom, harold. the western canon: the books and school of the ages. new york: harcourt brace, 1994. p. 534. in 1974 vidal published a sequel, myron. these books are out of print in america as of 2014. in his memoir palimpsest, vidal said the voice of myra may have been inspired by the "megalomania" of anaÃ¯s nin's diaries. ==plot== myra breckinridge is an attractive young woman with a mission. she is a film buff with a special interest in the golden age of hollywoodâin particular the 1940sâand the writings of real-l
1968_novels 20th-century_American_novels American_novels_adapted_into_films Fictional_diaries Hollywood_novels Literature_related_to_the_sexual_revolution Metafictional_works Novels_by_Gore_Vidal