A writer named George Garrett, suffering from double vision as the result of an illness, is asked to review a biography of the late Peter Taylor, a renowned writer and his longtime friend. Reflecting on their relationship, Garrett conceives of a character - not unlike himself - a writer in his early 70s, ill and suffering from double vision, named Frank Toomer. He gives Toomer a neighbor, a distinguished writer named Aubrey Carver. As the real George Garrett and Peter Taylor are replaced by two very different and imaginary writers, the story becomes a wise and insightful exploration of American literary life, the art of biography, notions of literary success, and the knotty relationship of art to life, fact to fiction, and life to death. ""Double Vision"" is a witty tour de force and an elegy for a gifted generation of American writers.