Genesis: An Epic Poem

Epic poetry has lost its place in our culture. The common reader is not interested in the discipline of verse writing, looking more for a simple and easily-accessible series of actions with a bit of descripition thrown in. Turner's "Genesis" is a tribute to Homer, Virgil, the Arthurian tales, "Beowulf", and "the Song of Roland". Turner's story is excellent, narrative and verse techniques wonderful, and characters deep and complex. Anyone interested in epic poetry or science fiction as a genre should read this great work.

This is a really bold project---nothing less than a conscious attempt at creating a founders' epic myth for the colonization of Mars. The science fiction was appealing, but the adoption of epic poetic structure to that sturdy narrative style is what raises this to the 5 star level. There is an equal amount of what I would call mysticism, especially as a new prophet for humanity springs from Martian soil. If you ever got excited by reading Virgil, when you had to translate and put yourself back into time, but still wondered what would be the outcome of Aneas' various adventures, this is for you, except it has at its disposal the tools of modern poetry, and is fueled by a genuinely new epic story. The narrative and poetry are perfectly interfused. Turner is somewhat of a throwback, and Genesis could be taken as an apologia for human imperialism on the grand scale. However, he portrays diversity as a real virtue, and also gives the Malthusian intellectual tendency a fair chance to make its case. Humorous subsections of the poetry descend from the lofty rhythm of iambic pentameter into tetrameter, highlighting his contention as a critic that form is central to the understanding of content. The meter is the message, perhaps? This is one of the most moving things I have ever read.

"Genesis" is an epic poem about the terraforming, or environmental transformation, of Mars. It's a beautiful, thoughtful, captivating treatment of a difficult set of environmental, spiritual and political issues. It deserves to be much more widely known than it is, as it ranks with Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles as one of the most moving and unusual literary works about the planet Mars.