A sweeping novel of politics, war, philosophy, and adventure–in a restored edition, featuring never-before-published material from Gore Vidal’s original manuscript– Creation offers a captivating grand tour of the ancient world.

Cyrus Spitama, grandson of the prophet Zoroaster and lifelong friend of Xerxes, spent most of his life as Persian ambassador for the great king Darius. He traveled to India, where he discussed nirvana with Buddha, and to the warring states of Cathay, where he learned of Tao from Master Li and fished on the riverbank with Confucius. Now blind and aged in Athens–the Athens of Pericles, Sophocles, Thucydides, Herodotus, and Socrates–Cyrus recounts his days as he strives to resolve the fundamental questions that have guided his life’s journeys: how the universe was created, and why evil was created with good. In revisiting the fifth century b.c.–one of the most spectacular periods in history–Gore Vidal illuminates the ideas that have shaped civilizations for millennia.

維達爾十多年來一直住在義大利，近半年來纔定居加州。維達爾相貌英俊，口若懸河，一直有政治野心，這次返國，主要參加競選，自己當參議員。維達爾十多年來為「紐約書評雙週刊」寫書評。他剛齣版的歷史哲學小說「創世紀」（Creaton）,小說主角是波斯拜火教老祖宗Zoroaster的孫子，身為外交官，晚年長駐雅典。他的傳業徒弟，即是希臘唯物主義哲學傢 Democritus。這位雙目已盲的波斯智者，曾齣使印度、中國，問道於釋迦牟尼、孔子、老子。維達爾企圖把公元前五世紀世界各地的大哲學傢、宗教傢、文學傢、史學傢一網打盡，都寫進書去。「創世紀」這部小說不容易寫好，但讀起來一定很有趣的，也錶示作者書讀得多。