Traversing the Landscape
BY SHELLY BRYANT I January 2, 2010
Scott E. Green. Private Worlds: A Revised Atlas. Manchester, NH: Abbott ePublishing, 2009. 41 pages. (expanded ed., original collection pub. 1985)
Scott Green, in Private Worlds: A Revised Atlas, has presented readers with a very unique project. He gives glimpses into the worlds of an array of important figures in the science fiction genre, giving each writer or film-maker his attention in turn, and highlighting for the reader an aspect of the artist's work that is important. What is unique about this is that the peeps we get into the private worlds of these writers and filmmakers is not in the form of a sort of encyclopedia entry, but in poetry. And it makes for very fun, pleasant reading.
The new edition of Private Worlds includes numerous previously unpublished poems, and it expands the original work in the 1985 edition to include film. These are good additions, making the work now pretty substantial, including a breadth of coverage that really deserves the name "atlas," as in the book's subtitle. The idea behind the work is excellent — paying a sort of homage to the greats in the field of science fiction in verse — and Green does and admirable job of capturing the essence of each artist's work. There are a few places where the verse seems to be secondary to the concept, but this is the exception rather than the rule. Beautiful, poetic language used to describe the worlds, such as a view of Asimov's world as "The reflection of / perfection / ensconced in gentle / shells of steel," is the norm for the book. Overall, Private Worlds is both good poetry and good coverage of the field of science fiction.
The notion of "private worlds" is an apt one as the artists covered in the volume are truly world-creators. Their own artistry, be it on film or on the page, is of the sort that brings readers and viewers into a world of their own making. In the poems of Private Worlds, we make brief stops in the lands made by artists across a broad landscape including all the big names such as Asimov, Lovecraft, Burroughs, Clarke, and LeGuin as well as in some surprises like the opening poem, which centers on the world of the Addams Family. The choice to include Bruce Lee, Richard Wagner, Vincent Price, and Toho Studies was something I really enjoyed, almost as much as I enjoyed seeing the poems featuring the worlds of James White and James Blish, two writers whose work I always enjoy.
In reading Private Worlds I only ran across two small points that were disappointing. The bigger of the two issues was the numerous typos that appear in the text including Bram Stoker being listed as "Stroker." It is always a little distracting to find a typo in a book while reading, and there are several in Private Worlds. It is a pity to allow this sort of detail to interrupt the flow of good writing. I don't know how easily it could be fixed in the ebook, but perhaps the choice to release it in electronic format leaves open the possibility for correction. Maybe.
The second issue that I found a little distracting is probably more of a personal preference. Each of the poems is titled in this way: "Zelanzy's World." It gets a little monotonous to read the same word in every title, especially when it appears in a number of the poems as well. I would probably have opted to simply title each poem with the artist's name rather than including "World" in each title. That is a minor concern, though, and one that might not bother most readers at all.
Green's poetry collection Private Worlds: A Revised Atlas offers a nice overview of the world-creators who make science fiction what it is. His choice to include artists across several media forms for this volume was a good one and really rounds out the text nicely.
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