As a youth, Hamilton was physically most attractive with red-gold hair, bright if somewhat watery blue eyes and a small but strong body. It was our peculiar tragedy - or glory - to be of an age and quality and at a time and place certain to make rivals of us. Yet from the beginning we had a personal liking for one another. We were like brothers (yes, Cain and Abel come to mind with the difference that each was part-Cain, part-Abel). At first meeting I knew Hamilton straight through. I suspect he knew me as well, and could not endure the knowledge that of the two of us I alone had the means and talent to be what he most wanted to be, the president. He came to hate not only my capacity but my opportunity. Yet I wonder if he knew all along that I would fail, saw the flaw in me as I saw the one in him? [...] Curious to think that we would almost certainly have been friends had we not been two young "heroes" at the beginning of a new nation, each aware that at the summit there is a place for only one. As it turned out, neither of us was to reach the highest place. I hurled Hamilton from the mountain-side, and myself fell.
-Burr
How much does the average person know about Aaron Burr? I honestly feel that the first thing that might come to mind is that (still funny) milk commercial. Consequently, I imagine many people might recall the Burr/Hamilton duel, even if that's all they know of either of those men. His vice-presidential term? His treason charge? I love American history, and I think these ideas would have only been vaguely familiar to me prior to Burr, which made it an illuminating read.
Burr centers on the life not only of the eponymous man, but also his fictional biographer, Charlie Schuyler. Burr has taken a shine to young Schuyler, a clerk in his law office who dreams of escaping abroad to become a writer. Soon Schuyler is taking down Burr's recollections, starting with his time as an absurdly young officer in the Revolution and continuing through his various political offices, the fateful duel, and his ill-starred venture out West. At the same time, Schuyler is sorely tempted to use his relationship with Burr to gather information that could damage the upcoming presidential campaign of Martin Van Buren, who is rumored to be Burr's illegitimate child - proof (or even reasonable conjecture) of which could win the penniless Schuyler a fortune.
Although Schuyler is ostensibly our protagonist, it's Burr's story through and through. The Schuyler scenes were fine, but Burr - that was a different level. I felt as though I were reading an amazingly candid autobiography. Seeing all of these famous men (Washington and Jefferson most notably) as humans, not demigods - well, it's almost like time travel, really. I felt as though I were just one tiny step from being in the room with them all.
Gore Vidal makes what must have been a herculean task of scholarship look effortless. His prose is easy and unforced. The characters were revelations, particularly Jefferson, for whom Burr has many an unkind word, to put it mildly. Vidal notes in the afterword that he likes Jefferson rather more than Burr did (and Jackson less); all the same, Jefferson remains a troublesome figure. I've mentioned it before, but I prefer to imagine Jefferson as he is in the John Adams miniseries (although about 6 inches taller) - the dreamy, brilliant Jefferson. Quiet to the point of being standoffish, sure, but that's something I've always understood about him. Now the slavery, and the calculating behind-the-scenes political machinations (such as paying papers to slander his rivals) - well, those are the things I still struggle to reconcile. Burr shows him in all his infinite contradictions. It would be an actor's dream role; Burr, too, of course.
All in all, this was a great read: engrossing and informative without being overly dense, easy to get lost in on my subway ride in the morning. I reckon I'll miss Burr a bit. He has inspired me to see the city in a new way - most of the novel is set here, and occasionally a familiar street was mentioned. His country estate, Richmond Hill, was actually in what is the city proper today (Although there is no sign of it; it was broken up during Burr's lifetime and I couldn't even find a historical marker). I'm making an effort to notice what could have been around in the era of the novel and I find it marvelous - buildings over 100 years old all around me. I even went to Trinity Church, where Alexander Hamilton is entombed. It's an amazing place, and there's even, eerily enough, a conversation between Burr and Hamilton set there in the book.
Up next: I'm all set for a reread of Bleak House, which I read for the first time about a year ago and enjoyed immensely.
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