The New World: An Epic Poem
This epic poem of love and war, re demption and death is a brilliant achievement that should win for its au thor (a former editor of the Kenyon Re view) wide critical acclaim. Metrically similar to the Iliad and the Aeneid, it blends the heroic, comic, and lyric styles. In 2376 A.D., nation-states have been replaced by new political forms: the Riots, incestuous, violent matriar chies whose citizens, addicted to psy chedelic joyjuice, are nearly illiterate; the Burbs, descendants of the old mid dle classes, now slaves to the Riots; the Mad Counties, composed of religious fanatics who are waging a holy war against the Free Counties, independent Jeffersonian democracies. The hero, James George Quincy, seeks to discov er ``a third mode of . . . commitment that transcends the contemporary di lemma of fanatical blind faith and af fectless hedonistic relativism. J. Pat rick Lewis, Integrative Studies Dept., Otterbein Coll., Westerville, OhioCopyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.