A re-imagining of the Beowulf<\/em> epic<\/h2>\nEarly 1980\u2019s: the Dynasty<\/i> women, the Dallas<\/i> woman, and Princess Diana were wearing shoulder pads and feathered hair. Our radios blared Blondie\u2019s Call Me,<\/i> or Queen\u2019s Another One Bites the Dust<\/i>. Meanwhile, in a sparsely attended upper-class seminar at Minnesota State University (Mankato), Susan Thurston was studying an Anglo-Saxon medieval (Old English!) epic story of a warrior culture, its hero,\u00a0Beowulf, <\/i>and their territorial battles highlighting their valorous victory over the \u201cevil\u201d monsters, Grendel and his mother.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/susan-thurston-head-shot-for-sister-of-grendel-1.jpg?w=201\")
Susan Thurston Hamerski
Photographed: Thursday, December 28, 2006, Edina, MN<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n\u201cMy sympathies aligned not with the Geats or the\u2026mercenary [Beowulf],\u201d she writes in the preface to her book Sister of Grendel, \u201c<\/i>but with the invaded: Grendel and his mother.\u201d\u00a0<\/i>
\nIs this a novel? Well, yes, but,\u00a0\u201cthe large publishers just didn\u2019t know how to classify it,\u201d Susan told me in a private interview. \u201cThey couldn\u2019t figure out the potential audience\u2014the target market. It doesn\u2019t neatly fit any of the recognized genres.\u201d
\nHer agent, Diana Finch<\/a> \u201cbelieved in the magic of this tale from its beginning,\u201d as did many publishing house editors who read the manuscript. Marketing teams, however, (those powerful deciders who cast the decisive yea or nay over most of any publishing house\u2019s acquisitions) couldn’t classify it and kept saying no. The book was at long last published by Black Hat Press of Minnesota in 2016.
\nIt wasn’t difficult for me to classify this book. Sister of Grendel<\/em> is an epic prose-poem.<\/strong> Here’s a definition from The Academy of American Poet’s website poets.org<\/a>, which perfectly summarizes the characteristics of an epic, which are also the characteristics of Sister of Grendel<\/em>:<\/p>\nAn epic is:<\/h3>\n\n- a long, often book-length, narrative;<\/li>\n
- in verse form;<\/li>\n
- that retells the heroic journey of a single person, or group of persons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Elements that typically distinguish epics include:<\/h3>\n\n- superhuman deeds;<\/li>\n
- fabulous adventures;<\/li>\n
- highly stylized language;<\/li>\n
- and a blending of lyrical and dramatic traditions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
So let’s shelf Sister of Grendel<\/em> in literary fiction<\/em>, under the subcategory \u201cepic-narrative-prose-poetry.\u201d
\nUnfortunately that shelf doesn’t exist in contemporary bookstores, because the genre is generally considered obsolete and irrelevant.<\/p>\nA micro-summary of the History of Epic Poetry\/Literature from Ancient Classical times through the Modernists (mid-1950\u2019s):<\/h2>\nSome Classical Epics:<\/h3>\n\n- Homer\u2019s epic poems Iliad<\/i> and Odyssey<\/i> (eighth Century BCE\/BC) recount the legend of Ulysses\u2019 heroic adventures;<\/li>\n
- The Babylonian epic Gilgamesh<\/i>\u00a0 (ca. 1600-1000 BCE\/BC) focuses on protecting a civilization.<\/li>\n
- Together with Beowulf, these serve as models for epic poetry for millennia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some Pre 18th Century epics:<\/h3>\n\n- Chaucer\u2019s The Knight\u2019s Tale;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Spenser\u2019s The Fairie Queen;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Milton\u2019s Paradise Lost.<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some 18th Century Satirical Mock epics (something like neoclassical forerunners of The Onion<\/i>)<\/h3>\n\n- Pope\u2019s The Dunciad <\/i>and Rape of the Lock;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Dryden\u2019s Abloom and Achitophel.<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some 19th Century\u2019s re-envisionings of epic, exploring the mind’s interior adventures and discoveries:<\/h3>\n\n- Wordsworth\u2019s The Prelude<\/i>;\u00a0<\/i><\/li>\n
- Byron\u2019s Childe Harold\u2019s Pilgrimage, and\u00a0<\/i>Don Juan;<\/i>\u00a0<\/i><\/li>\n
- Tennyson\u2019s Idylls of the King;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Longfellow\u2019s Hiawatha;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Whitman\u2019s Leaves of Grass.<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some Modernist re-envisionings of epic, dealing with the tension between self and the culture in which the self exists:<\/h3>\n\n- Pound\u2019s The Cantos;<\/i><\/li>\n
- T. S. Eliot\u2019s \u02c6The Wasteland (1922);<\/li>\n
- James Joyce\u2019s Ulysses<\/i>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Epics authored by women:<\/h3>\n
In The New<\/i> Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics<\/i>, in more than twelve, two-columned pages of minuscule type, J. K. Newman expounds on the history and theory of Western epic literature from the ancient-classical era through modern times. Citing dozens more English language (male) poems\/poets than I\u2019ve mentioned, along with a score of epics in non-English languages (all by males), Professor Newman mentions just two women poets:<\/p>\n\n- \u201cElizabeth Barrett Browning in Aurora Leigh<\/i> (1857) could lay claim to have written a novel in verse or a feminist epic,\u201d and;<\/li>\n
- \u201cH.D. in Triology <\/i>(1944-46), using the lyric voice to record her experiences of wartime London, tackles the universal problem of war.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The death of epic<\/h3>\n
As far as Professor J. K. Newman was concerned, when he was writing in 1999, \u201cthe fragmentation of the Classical tradition [of the epic poem] in our time has \u2026 led to impatient rejection of its relevance.\u201d He infers that all that remains to do with the centuries-long tradition of epic is for scholars to articulate a unifying epic theory that would seek to accommodate the history of individual achievement, as if the epic belongs the dead past.<\/p>\n
Some 21st Century epics:<\/h3>\n
Seventeen years later, Susan Thurston\u2019s <\/a>Sister of Grende<\/a>l, <\/i>is <\/i>blurring and extending boundaries: of genre (fantasy? allegory? historical?); of form (prose? poetry?); and of critical theory (Neo-romantic? Feminist? Post-gender?). By reinventing the Classical epic, she rejuvenates its relevance for a third-millennial, global culture. She is not alone. Two other contemporary women writers’ poetic tales of epic adventure that spring to mind: Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing<\/em><\/a>; Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard<\/em><\/a>. Doubtless there are others. I’ve observed that women writers are claiming the power of their voices in reshaping cultural values, and epic has a long history of transmitting the moral codes and ethics of individuals and groups.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tracyrittmueller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/thumb.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe power of epic to shape cultural values<\/h2>\n
Sister of Grendel <\/i>tells the story of a race of beings, the Anathians, \u201cwho possess refined language and intelligence, great physical strength, and longevity. They\u00a0live close to the natural and spiritual world, are skilled in herbal medicine, music, and magic, and can enter the dreams of sleeping humans.\u201d Specifically, this is the story of the Sister of Grendel, Rehsotis, and how she bridges \u201cthe dangerous divide with humankind\u2014the Smallheaded\u2014with the help of her few allies, including a forsaken monk, a grieving love, and a trusting child.”
\nWhile set in the realm of fantasy, Sister of Grendel<\/em> is not a story of escape from reality. Ms. Thurston does not shy away from the real-life consequences of human selfishness, fear, greed, deception, betrayal, and violence, encountered by all of us without and within ourselves and our communities. She exposes the shadow side of our nature to the light of compassionate reason.
\nShe does not offer readers the false hope of blind optimism, but instead points to healing possibilities existent in poetry,\u00a0story, music, art, artisanship, and the meaningful rituals that bind us together. She reminds us of what \u00a0ennobles us: the loving kindness we demonstrate to one another (an\u00a0other!<\/i>) transforms us from predatory, hostile survivalists into sustainable, hospitable human communities. Failing to extend loving kindness to each and every other keeps us in slavery to our baser instincts.
\nWriting for the Los Angeles Review, here is Nancy Posey on Sister of Grendel<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n\u201cRehsotis (Grendel\u2019s sister) becomes a kind of archetypal hero on her own journey seeking a home and her own people. Thurston creates a world as clear and credible as More\u2019s Utopian or any of Swift\u2019s fabled lands in Gulliver\u2019s Travels.\u201d<\/h6>\n
The archetypal hero\u2019s journey grew to pop-culture status in the years after Bill Moyers\u2019 influential television series with Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, <\/i>aired. <\/i>Rehsotis\u2019 story, however, critiques that archetype. \u00a0The classical mythic hero, Beowulf, seen through the eyes of \u00a0Grendel, his mother, sister and their tribe), is a violent exterminator not only of their people and culture, but also of beauty and wisdom. Rhesotis, a maker of instruments before Beowulf annihilated her family and culture, describes her craft:<\/p>\nWhen I take a piece of wood into my hands, I sense the seasons the tree has known–times of abundance, years of constant thirst, prevailing twists of wind, or an unexpected skewer of lightning. As I work the wood, various tones and colors ripple before my eyes. I blend and mingle the strips of wood…Each player takes up one of my bring boxes, rests it under her chin or across her lap, and draws a tight bow over stretched gut strings, and–knows me. With one of my creations, one never plays alone.”<\/h6>\n
This is also, of course, a metaphorical description of the intimate connection between writer and reader, working in concert to bring a narrative to life. If you are a reader who reads to enter “the heart and soul of a writer\u2019s being,” to experience “an emotional journey<\/em> through the symphony of words, <\/a>leading to a stronger grasp of the universe and of ourselves,” you may want to read this story, to bring it to life in your own imagination.<\/p>\nNew Epic: Listening to the Missing Stories<\/h2>\n
In penning Sister of Grendel<\/em>, Susan Thurston questions militant assumptions about what it means to be heroic<\/i>. She challenges imperialism and colonialism by giving voice to the conquered. She questions the arrogance of conveniently labeling the Other-Stranger a Monster-Demon-Villain, <\/i>which\u00a0silently condones the evil-doings of one’s own cultural institutions and practices, and blindly ignores the destructive prejudices lurking in one’s own psyche.
\nPolitical rhetoric does not create predatory, narrow-minded racism and nationalism. Stories disseminate our values. The words we take into our hearts and pass on to the next generation–about where we came from, what is meaningful, who we are, and what defines heroism–are the building blocks of our moral codes and ethics.
\nMany who seek power and attempt to retain power know how to use the rhetoric of hate and fear. They dump it like bait into shark-infested waters. They pour fear into those minds shaped by stories of violent conquest portrayed as heroism, and they feed hatred.
\nCoincidentally, I recently finished (as a book group assignment)\u00a0Yaa Gyasi’s novel\u00a0<\/a>Homegoing–<\/em>another reinvention of epic for the 21st Century–spanning 300 years and telling the stories of a tribe, the descendants of 2 half-sisters and their experiences of (and participation with) colonialism, slavery, and racism in Ghana and the U.S. Here is an excerpt, in which a history teacher in Ghana speaks to his students:<\/p>\n“This is the problem of history. We cannot know that which were were not there to see and hear and experience for ourselves. We must rely on the words of others…Whose story do we believe, then?”
\nThe boys were silent. They stared at him, waiting.
\n“We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there, you begin to get a clearer, yet still imperfect picture.”<\/h6>\n
Sister of Grendel<\/em> challenges us to ask, “Whose story is missing?” and to examine our cultural differences and our similarities<\/em> with compassionate clarity. In a July 27th (2017) share of a NewsRepublic.com article on Facebook,\u00a0Sister of Grendel’s\u00a0<\/em>agent Diana Finch wrote, <\/a>“Let the resistance thrive on the bookshelves!” Ms. Thurston’s epic story is indeed a work of resistance, opposing a politics of division, the practice of vilifying the other in justification of their harm, expulsion, and eradication.
\nThis will be a challenging read for those who identify as Christians, as it is told in the voice of a pagan, non-Christian. Ms. Thurston challenges self-righteousness and the justification of inflicting harm on those who believe differently, speak differently, look foreign. She challenges us to listen to the voice of “others” who have been vilified and exterminated. She asks us to understand that every one of us is a limited, fallible, finite-visioned, small-minded creature. In this she admonishes Christians to live without hypocrisy, to adhere to their New Testament teachings–to demonstrate love and compassion for all creatures, to forsake vengeance, to seek forgiveness, and allow God be the judge. Most powerfully, she challenges all to be considerate and careful of the pain we inflict, not only through physical violence, but through the violence of speaking careless words or withholding words of kindness:<\/p>\n\u201cAnd I have at last accounted for this last part of my story.\u201d Beowulf\u2019s voice surrounds me, and his image again appears whole before me.
\nBeowulf the warrior reaches out his hand as if to touch me.
\nI extend mine toward him. \u201cWhich causes more pain, I wonder. The words unsaid or the words not said well enough?\u201d<\/h6>\n
This work of literature\u2014epic story \/ poetic novel–deserves a place on the shelves of serious readers of literature, and Susan Thurston, an award-winning Minnesota poet, deserves more critical attention and acclaim. (Click here to read her poem Rapunzel Takes a Stand,\u00a0<\/em>which won the 2016\u00a01st prize in the San Miguel Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival’s contest.)<\/a><\/p>\n\nAbout Susan Thurston, poet\/writer<\/h2>\n\nSusan Thurston relishes spending time with her children Madeleine and Samuel and draws\u00a0inspiration from ancient myths and legends as well as the ceaseless beauty of the Mississippi River\u00a0that flows through the heart of her city. She is working hard to achieve a life that offers more time\u00a0to cherish friendships and create, travel, and read deeply. All of that is enhanced by good food,\u00a0libations, and sun. She is a writer, educator, and professional communicator who lives in St. Paul,\u00a0Minnesota. Her work has been published in numerous publications including the Minneapolis Star\u00a0Tribune<\/em>, Los Angeles Review<\/em>, Garrison Keillor\u2019s The Writer\u2019s Almanac<\/em>, Minnesota Monthly<\/em>, Fox Cry Review<\/em>,\u00a0Rag Mag<\/em>; several anthologies including Open to Interpretation: At Water\u2019s Edge<\/em> (Taylor & O\u2019Neill, 2012),\u00a0Low Down and Coming On<\/em> (Red Dragonfly Press, 2010), Tremors Vibrations Enough to Rearrange the World<\/em>\u00a0(Heywood Press, 1995); and the chapbook Wild Bone Season<\/em> (Heywood Press, 1996). Her novel Sister\u00a0of Grendel<\/em> was published by The Black Hat Press in 2016. She coauthored Cooking-Up the Good Life<\/em>\u00a0(University of Minnesota Press, 2012) with local-food movement leader Chef Jenny Breen. As part\u00a0of earning her master\u2019s degree from Hamline University, she spent time exploring the influence of\u00a0gender on the creative process with the game-changing writers Carol Bly, Patricia Hampl, and\u00a0Meridel Le Sueur.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Photographed: Thursday, December 28, 2006, Edina, MN<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n\u201cMy sympathies aligned not with the Geats or the\u2026mercenary [Beowulf],\u201d she writes in the preface to her book Sister of Grendel, \u201c<\/i>but with the invaded: Grendel and his mother.\u201d\u00a0<\/i>
\nIs this a novel? Well, yes, but,\u00a0\u201cthe large publishers just didn\u2019t know how to classify it,\u201d Susan told me in a private interview. \u201cThey couldn\u2019t figure out the potential audience\u2014the target market. It doesn\u2019t neatly fit any of the recognized genres.\u201d
\nHer agent, Diana Finch<\/a> \u201cbelieved in the magic of this tale from its beginning,\u201d as did many publishing house editors who read the manuscript. Marketing teams, however, (those powerful deciders who cast the decisive yea or nay over most of any publishing house\u2019s acquisitions) couldn’t classify it and kept saying no. The book was at long last published by Black Hat Press of Minnesota in 2016.
\nIt wasn’t difficult for me to classify this book. Sister of Grendel<\/em> is an epic prose-poem.<\/strong> Here’s a definition from The Academy of American Poet’s website poets.org<\/a>, which perfectly summarizes the characteristics of an epic, which are also the characteristics of Sister of Grendel<\/em>:<\/p>\n
An epic is:<\/h3>\n\n- a long, often book-length, narrative;<\/li>\n
- in verse form;<\/li>\n
- that retells the heroic journey of a single person, or group of persons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Elements that typically distinguish epics include:<\/h3>\n\n- superhuman deeds;<\/li>\n
- fabulous adventures;<\/li>\n
- highly stylized language;<\/li>\n
- and a blending of lyrical and dramatic traditions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
So let’s shelf Sister of Grendel<\/em> in literary fiction<\/em>, under the subcategory \u201cepic-narrative-prose-poetry.\u201d
\nUnfortunately that shelf doesn’t exist in contemporary bookstores, because the genre is generally considered obsolete and irrelevant.<\/p>\nA micro-summary of the History of Epic Poetry\/Literature from Ancient Classical times through the Modernists (mid-1950\u2019s):<\/h2>\nSome Classical Epics:<\/h3>\n\n- Homer\u2019s epic poems Iliad<\/i> and Odyssey<\/i> (eighth Century BCE\/BC) recount the legend of Ulysses\u2019 heroic adventures;<\/li>\n
- The Babylonian epic Gilgamesh<\/i>\u00a0 (ca. 1600-1000 BCE\/BC) focuses on protecting a civilization.<\/li>\n
- Together with Beowulf, these serve as models for epic poetry for millennia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some Pre 18th Century epics:<\/h3>\n\n- Chaucer\u2019s The Knight\u2019s Tale;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Spenser\u2019s The Fairie Queen;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Milton\u2019s Paradise Lost.<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some 18th Century Satirical Mock epics (something like neoclassical forerunners of The Onion<\/i>)<\/h3>\n\n- Pope\u2019s The Dunciad <\/i>and Rape of the Lock;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Dryden\u2019s Abloom and Achitophel.<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some 19th Century\u2019s re-envisionings of epic, exploring the mind’s interior adventures and discoveries:<\/h3>\n\n- Wordsworth\u2019s The Prelude<\/i>;\u00a0<\/i><\/li>\n
- Byron\u2019s Childe Harold\u2019s Pilgrimage, and\u00a0<\/i>Don Juan;<\/i>\u00a0<\/i><\/li>\n
- Tennyson\u2019s Idylls of the King;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Longfellow\u2019s Hiawatha;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Whitman\u2019s Leaves of Grass.<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some Modernist re-envisionings of epic, dealing with the tension between self and the culture in which the self exists:<\/h3>\n\n- Pound\u2019s The Cantos;<\/i><\/li>\n
- T. S. Eliot\u2019s \u02c6The Wasteland (1922);<\/li>\n
- James Joyce\u2019s Ulysses<\/i>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Epics authored by women:<\/h3>\n
In The New<\/i> Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics<\/i>, in more than twelve, two-columned pages of minuscule type, J. K. Newman expounds on the history and theory of Western epic literature from the ancient-classical era through modern times. Citing dozens more English language (male) poems\/poets than I\u2019ve mentioned, along with a score of epics in non-English languages (all by males), Professor Newman mentions just two women poets:<\/p>\n\n- \u201cElizabeth Barrett Browning in Aurora Leigh<\/i> (1857) could lay claim to have written a novel in verse or a feminist epic,\u201d and;<\/li>\n
- \u201cH.D. in Triology <\/i>(1944-46), using the lyric voice to record her experiences of wartime London, tackles the universal problem of war.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The death of epic<\/h3>\n
As far as Professor J. K. Newman was concerned, when he was writing in 1999, \u201cthe fragmentation of the Classical tradition [of the epic poem] in our time has \u2026 led to impatient rejection of its relevance.\u201d He infers that all that remains to do with the centuries-long tradition of epic is for scholars to articulate a unifying epic theory that would seek to accommodate the history of individual achievement, as if the epic belongs the dead past.<\/p>\n
Some 21st Century epics:<\/h3>\n
Seventeen years later, Susan Thurston\u2019s <\/a>Sister of Grende<\/a>l, <\/i>is <\/i>blurring and extending boundaries: of genre (fantasy? allegory? historical?); of form (prose? poetry?); and of critical theory (Neo-romantic? Feminist? Post-gender?). By reinventing the Classical epic, she rejuvenates its relevance for a third-millennial, global culture. She is not alone. Two other contemporary women writers’ poetic tales of epic adventure that spring to mind: Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing<\/em><\/a>; Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard<\/em><\/a>. Doubtless there are others. I’ve observed that women writers are claiming the power of their voices in reshaping cultural values, and epic has a long history of transmitting the moral codes and ethics of individuals and groups.
\n<\/p>\nThe power of epic to shape cultural values<\/h2>\n
Sister of Grendel <\/i>tells the story of a race of beings, the Anathians, \u201cwho possess refined language and intelligence, great physical strength, and longevity. They\u00a0live close to the natural and spiritual world, are skilled in herbal medicine, music, and magic, and can enter the dreams of sleeping humans.\u201d Specifically, this is the story of the Sister of Grendel, Rehsotis, and how she bridges \u201cthe dangerous divide with humankind\u2014the Smallheaded\u2014with the help of her few allies, including a forsaken monk, a grieving love, and a trusting child.”
\nWhile set in the realm of fantasy, Sister of Grendel<\/em> is not a story of escape from reality. Ms. Thurston does not shy away from the real-life consequences of human selfishness, fear, greed, deception, betrayal, and violence, encountered by all of us without and within ourselves and our communities. She exposes the shadow side of our nature to the light of compassionate reason.
\nShe does not offer readers the false hope of blind optimism, but instead points to healing possibilities existent in poetry,\u00a0story, music, art, artisanship, and the meaningful rituals that bind us together. She reminds us of what \u00a0ennobles us: the loving kindness we demonstrate to one another (an\u00a0other!<\/i>) transforms us from predatory, hostile survivalists into sustainable, hospitable human communities. Failing to extend loving kindness to each and every other keeps us in slavery to our baser instincts.
\nWriting for the Los Angeles Review, here is Nancy Posey on Sister of Grendel<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n\u201cRehsotis (Grendel\u2019s sister) becomes a kind of archetypal hero on her own journey seeking a home and her own people. Thurston creates a world as clear and credible as More\u2019s Utopian or any of Swift\u2019s fabled lands in Gulliver\u2019s Travels.\u201d<\/h6>\n
The archetypal hero\u2019s journey grew to pop-culture status in the years after Bill Moyers\u2019 influential television series with Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, <\/i>aired. <\/i>Rehsotis\u2019 story, however, critiques that archetype. \u00a0The classical mythic hero, Beowulf, seen through the eyes of \u00a0Grendel, his mother, sister and their tribe), is a violent exterminator not only of their people and culture, but also of beauty and wisdom. Rhesotis, a maker of instruments before Beowulf annihilated her family and culture, describes her craft:<\/p>\nWhen I take a piece of wood into my hands, I sense the seasons the tree has known–times of abundance, years of constant thirst, prevailing twists of wind, or an unexpected skewer of lightning. As I work the wood, various tones and colors ripple before my eyes. I blend and mingle the strips of wood…Each player takes up one of my bring boxes, rests it under her chin or across her lap, and draws a tight bow over stretched gut strings, and–knows me. With one of my creations, one never plays alone.”<\/h6>\n
This is also, of course, a metaphorical description of the intimate connection between writer and reader, working in concert to bring a narrative to life. If you are a reader who reads to enter “the heart and soul of a writer\u2019s being,” to experience “an emotional journey<\/em> through the symphony of words, <\/a>leading to a stronger grasp of the universe and of ourselves,” you may want to read this story, to bring it to life in your own imagination.<\/p>\nNew Epic: Listening to the Missing Stories<\/h2>\n
In penning Sister of Grendel<\/em>, Susan Thurston questions militant assumptions about what it means to be heroic<\/i>. She challenges imperialism and colonialism by giving voice to the conquered. She questions the arrogance of conveniently labeling the Other-Stranger a Monster-Demon-Villain, <\/i>which\u00a0silently condones the evil-doings of one’s own cultural institutions and practices, and blindly ignores the destructive prejudices lurking in one’s own psyche.
\nPolitical rhetoric does not create predatory, narrow-minded racism and nationalism. Stories disseminate our values. The words we take into our hearts and pass on to the next generation–about where we came from, what is meaningful, who we are, and what defines heroism–are the building blocks of our moral codes and ethics.
\nMany who seek power and attempt to retain power know how to use the rhetoric of hate and fear. They dump it like bait into shark-infested waters. They pour fear into those minds shaped by stories of violent conquest portrayed as heroism, and they feed hatred.
\nCoincidentally, I recently finished (as a book group assignment)\u00a0Yaa Gyasi’s novel\u00a0<\/a>Homegoing–<\/em>another reinvention of epic for the 21st Century–spanning 300 years and telling the stories of a tribe, the descendants of 2 half-sisters and their experiences of (and participation with) colonialism, slavery, and racism in Ghana and the U.S. Here is an excerpt, in which a history teacher in Ghana speaks to his students:<\/p>\n“This is the problem of history. We cannot know that which were were not there to see and hear and experience for ourselves. We must rely on the words of others…Whose story do we believe, then?”
\nThe boys were silent. They stared at him, waiting.
\n“We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there, you begin to get a clearer, yet still imperfect picture.”<\/h6>\n
Sister of Grendel<\/em> challenges us to ask, “Whose story is missing?” and to examine our cultural differences and our similarities<\/em> with compassionate clarity. In a July 27th (2017) share of a NewsRepublic.com article on Facebook,\u00a0Sister of Grendel’s\u00a0<\/em>agent Diana Finch wrote, <\/a>“Let the resistance thrive on the bookshelves!” Ms. Thurston’s epic story is indeed a work of resistance, opposing a politics of division, the practice of vilifying the other in justification of their harm, expulsion, and eradication.
\nThis will be a challenging read for those who identify as Christians, as it is told in the voice of a pagan, non-Christian. Ms. Thurston challenges self-righteousness and the justification of inflicting harm on those who believe differently, speak differently, look foreign. She challenges us to listen to the voice of “others” who have been vilified and exterminated. She asks us to understand that every one of us is a limited, fallible, finite-visioned, small-minded creature. In this she admonishes Christians to live without hypocrisy, to adhere to their New Testament teachings–to demonstrate love and compassion for all creatures, to forsake vengeance, to seek forgiveness, and allow God be the judge. Most powerfully, she challenges all to be considerate and careful of the pain we inflict, not only through physical violence, but through the violence of speaking careless words or withholding words of kindness:<\/p>\n\u201cAnd I have at last accounted for this last part of my story.\u201d Beowulf\u2019s voice surrounds me, and his image again appears whole before me.
\nBeowulf the warrior reaches out his hand as if to touch me.
\nI extend mine toward him. \u201cWhich causes more pain, I wonder. The words unsaid or the words not said well enough?\u201d<\/h6>\n
This work of literature\u2014epic story \/ poetic novel–deserves a place on the shelves of serious readers of literature, and Susan Thurston, an award-winning Minnesota poet, deserves more critical attention and acclaim. (Click here to read her poem Rapunzel Takes a Stand,\u00a0<\/em>which won the 2016\u00a01st prize in the San Miguel Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival’s contest.)<\/a><\/p>\n\nAbout Susan Thurston, poet\/writer<\/h2>\n\nSusan Thurston relishes spending time with her children Madeleine and Samuel and draws\u00a0inspiration from ancient myths and legends as well as the ceaseless beauty of the Mississippi River\u00a0that flows through the heart of her city. She is working hard to achieve a life that offers more time\u00a0to cherish friendships and create, travel, and read deeply. All of that is enhanced by good food,\u00a0libations, and sun. She is a writer, educator, and professional communicator who lives in St. Paul,\u00a0Minnesota. Her work has been published in numerous publications including the Minneapolis Star\u00a0Tribune<\/em>, Los Angeles Review<\/em>, Garrison Keillor\u2019s The Writer\u2019s Almanac<\/em>, Minnesota Monthly<\/em>, Fox Cry Review<\/em>,\u00a0Rag Mag<\/em>; several anthologies including Open to Interpretation: At Water\u2019s Edge<\/em> (Taylor & O\u2019Neill, 2012),\u00a0Low Down and Coming On<\/em> (Red Dragonfly Press, 2010), Tremors Vibrations Enough to Rearrange the World<\/em>\u00a0(Heywood Press, 1995); and the chapbook Wild Bone Season<\/em> (Heywood Press, 1996). Her novel Sister\u00a0of Grendel<\/em> was published by The Black Hat Press in 2016. She coauthored Cooking-Up the Good Life<\/em>\u00a0(University of Minnesota Press, 2012) with local-food movement leader Chef Jenny Breen. As part\u00a0of earning her master\u2019s degree from Hamline University, she spent time exploring the influence of\u00a0gender on the creative process with the game-changing writers Carol Bly, Patricia Hampl, and\u00a0Meridel Le Sueur.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Elements that typically distinguish epics include:<\/h3>\n\n- superhuman deeds;<\/li>\n
- fabulous adventures;<\/li>\n
- highly stylized language;<\/li>\n
- and a blending of lyrical and dramatic traditions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
So let’s shelf Sister of Grendel<\/em> in literary fiction<\/em>, under the subcategory \u201cepic-narrative-prose-poetry.\u201d
\nUnfortunately that shelf doesn’t exist in contemporary bookstores, because the genre is generally considered obsolete and irrelevant.<\/p>\nA micro-summary of the History of Epic Poetry\/Literature from Ancient Classical times through the Modernists (mid-1950\u2019s):<\/h2>\nSome Classical Epics:<\/h3>\n\n- Homer\u2019s epic poems Iliad<\/i> and Odyssey<\/i> (eighth Century BCE\/BC) recount the legend of Ulysses\u2019 heroic adventures;<\/li>\n
- The Babylonian epic Gilgamesh<\/i>\u00a0 (ca. 1600-1000 BCE\/BC) focuses on protecting a civilization.<\/li>\n
- Together with Beowulf, these serve as models for epic poetry for millennia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some Pre 18th Century epics:<\/h3>\n\n- Chaucer\u2019s The Knight\u2019s Tale;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Spenser\u2019s The Fairie Queen;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Milton\u2019s Paradise Lost.<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some 18th Century Satirical Mock epics (something like neoclassical forerunners of The Onion<\/i>)<\/h3>\n\n- Pope\u2019s The Dunciad <\/i>and Rape of the Lock;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Dryden\u2019s Abloom and Achitophel.<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some 19th Century\u2019s re-envisionings of epic, exploring the mind’s interior adventures and discoveries:<\/h3>\n\n- Wordsworth\u2019s The Prelude<\/i>;\u00a0<\/i><\/li>\n
- Byron\u2019s Childe Harold\u2019s Pilgrimage, and\u00a0<\/i>Don Juan;<\/i>\u00a0<\/i><\/li>\n
- Tennyson\u2019s Idylls of the King;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Longfellow\u2019s Hiawatha;<\/i><\/li>\n
- Whitman\u2019s Leaves of Grass.<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Some Modernist re-envisionings of epic, dealing with the tension between self and the culture in which the self exists:<\/h3>\n\n- Pound\u2019s The Cantos;<\/i><\/li>\n
- T. S. Eliot\u2019s \u02c6The Wasteland (1922);<\/li>\n
- James Joyce\u2019s Ulysses<\/i>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Epics authored by women:<\/h3>\n
In The New<\/i> Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics<\/i>, in more than twelve, two-columned pages of minuscule type, J. K. Newman expounds on the history and theory of Western epic literature from the ancient-classical era through modern times. Citing dozens more English language (male) poems\/poets than I\u2019ve mentioned, along with a score of epics in non-English languages (all by males), Professor Newman mentions just two women poets:<\/p>\n\n- \u201cElizabeth Barrett Browning in Aurora Leigh<\/i> (1857) could lay claim to have written a novel in verse or a feminist epic,\u201d and;<\/li>\n
- \u201cH.D. in Triology <\/i>(1944-46), using the lyric voice to record her experiences of wartime London, tackles the universal problem of war.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The death of epic<\/h3>\n
As far as Professor J. K. Newman was concerned, when he was writing in 1999, \u201cthe fragmentation of the Classical tradition [of the epic poem] in our time has \u2026 led to impatient rejection of its relevance.\u201d He infers that all that remains to do with the centuries-long tradition of epic is for scholars to articulate a unifying epic theory that would seek to accommodate the history of individual achievement, as if the epic belongs the dead past.<\/p>\n
Some 21st Century epics:<\/h3>\n
Seventeen years later, Susan Thurston\u2019s <\/a>Sister of Grende<\/a>l, <\/i>is <\/i>blurring and extending boundaries: of genre (fantasy? allegory? historical?); of form (prose? poetry?); and of critical theory (Neo-romantic? Feminist? Post-gender?). By reinventing the Classical epic, she rejuvenates its relevance for a third-millennial, global culture. She is not alone. Two other contemporary women writers’ poetic tales of epic adventure that spring to mind: Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing<\/em><\/a>; Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard<\/em><\/a>. Doubtless there are others. I’ve observed that women writers are claiming the power of their voices in reshaping cultural values, and epic has a long history of transmitting the moral codes and ethics of individuals and groups.
\n<\/p>\nThe power of epic to shape cultural values<\/h2>\n
Sister of Grendel <\/i>tells the story of a race of beings, the Anathians, \u201cwho possess refined language and intelligence, great physical strength, and longevity. They\u00a0live close to the natural and spiritual world, are skilled in herbal medicine, music, and magic, and can enter the dreams of sleeping humans.\u201d Specifically, this is the story of the Sister of Grendel, Rehsotis, and how she bridges \u201cthe dangerous divide with humankind\u2014the Smallheaded\u2014with the help of her few allies, including a forsaken monk, a grieving love, and a trusting child.”
\nWhile set in the realm of fantasy, Sister of Grendel<\/em> is not a story of escape from reality. Ms. Thurston does not shy away from the real-life consequences of human selfishness, fear, greed, deception, betrayal, and violence, encountered by all of us without and within ourselves and our communities. She exposes the shadow side of our nature to the light of compassionate reason.
\nShe does not offer readers the false hope of blind optimism, but instead points to healing possibilities existent in poetry,\u00a0story, music, art, artisanship, and the meaningful rituals that bind us together. She reminds us of what \u00a0ennobles us: the loving kindness we demonstrate to one another (an\u00a0other!<\/i>) transforms us from predatory, hostile survivalists into sustainable, hospitable human communities. Failing to extend loving kindness to each and every other keeps us in slavery to our baser instincts.
\nWriting for the Los Angeles Review, here is Nancy Posey on Sister of Grendel<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n\u201cRehsotis (Grendel\u2019s sister) becomes a kind of archetypal hero on her own journey seeking a home and her own people. Thurston creates a world as clear and credible as More\u2019s Utopian or any of Swift\u2019s fabled lands in Gulliver\u2019s Travels.\u201d<\/h6>\n
The archetypal hero\u2019s journey grew to pop-culture status in the years after Bill Moyers\u2019 influential television series with Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, <\/i>aired. <\/i>Rehsotis\u2019 story, however, critiques that archetype. \u00a0The classical mythic hero, Beowulf, seen through the eyes of \u00a0Grendel, his mother, sister and their tribe), is a violent exterminator not only of their people and culture, but also of beauty and wisdom. Rhesotis, a maker of instruments before Beowulf annihilated her family and culture, describes her craft:<\/p>\nWhen I take a piece of wood into my hands, I sense the seasons the tree has known–times of abundance, years of constant thirst, prevailing twists of wind, or an unexpected skewer of lightning. As I work the wood, various tones and colors ripple before my eyes. I blend and mingle the strips of wood…Each player takes up one of my bring boxes, rests it under her chin or across her lap, and draws a tight bow over stretched gut strings, and–knows me. With one of my creations, one never plays alone.”<\/h6>\n
This is also, of course, a metaphorical description of the intimate connection between writer and reader, working in concert to bring a narrative to life. If you are a reader who reads to enter “the heart and soul of a writer\u2019s being,” to experience “an emotional journey<\/em> through the symphony of words, <\/a>leading to a stronger grasp of the universe and of ourselves,” you may want to read this story, to bring it to life in your own imagination.<\/p>\nNew Epic: Listening to the Missing Stories<\/h2>\n
In penning Sister of Grendel<\/em>, Susan Thurston questions militant assumptions about what it means to be heroic<\/i>. She challenges imperialism and colonialism by giving voice to the conquered. She questions the arrogance of conveniently labeling the Other-Stranger a Monster-Demon-Villain, <\/i>which\u00a0silently condones the evil-doings of one’s own cultural institutions and practices, and blindly ignores the destructive prejudices lurking in one’s own psyche.
\nPolitical rhetoric does not create predatory, narrow-minded racism and nationalism. Stories disseminate our values. The words we take into our hearts and pass on to the next generation–about where we came from, what is meaningful, who we are, and what defines heroism–are the building blocks of our moral codes and ethics.
\nMany who seek power and attempt to retain power know how to use the rhetoric of hate and fear. They dump it like bait into shark-infested waters. They pour fear into those minds shaped by stories of violent conquest portrayed as heroism, and they feed hatred.
\nCoincidentally, I recently finished (as a book group assignment)\u00a0Yaa Gyasi’s novel\u00a0<\/a>Homegoing–<\/em>another reinvention of epic for the 21st Century–spanning 300 years and telling the stories of a tribe, the descendants of 2 half-sisters and their experiences of (and participation with) colonialism, slavery, and racism in Ghana and the U.S. Here is an excerpt, in which a history teacher in Ghana speaks to his students:<\/p>\n“This is the problem of history. We cannot know that which were were not there to see and hear and experience for ourselves. We must rely on the words of others…Whose story do we believe, then?”
\nThe boys were silent. They stared at him, waiting.
\n“We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there, you begin to get a clearer, yet still imperfect picture.”<\/h6>\n
Sister of Grendel<\/em> challenges us to ask, “Whose story is missing?” and to examine our cultural differences and our similarities<\/em> with compassionate clarity. In a July 27th (2017) share of a NewsRepublic.com article on Facebook,\u00a0Sister of Grendel’s\u00a0<\/em>agent Diana Finch wrote, <\/a>“Let the resistance thrive on the bookshelves!” Ms. Thurston’s epic story is indeed a work of resistance, opposing a politics of division, the practice of vilifying the other in justification of their harm, expulsion, and eradication.
\nThis will be a challenging read for those who identify as Christians, as it is told in the voice of a pagan, non-Christian. Ms. Thurston challenges self-righteousness and the justification of inflicting harm on those who believe differently, speak differently, look foreign. She challenges us to listen to the voice of “others” who have been vilified and exterminated. She asks us to understand that every one of us is a limited, fallible, finite-visioned, small-minded creature. In this she admonishes Christians to live without hypocrisy, to adhere to their New Testament teachings–to demonstrate love and compassion for all creatures, to forsake vengeance, to seek forgiveness, and allow God be the judge. Most powerfully, she challenges all to be considerate and careful of the pain we inflict, not only through physical violence, but through the violence of speaking careless words or withholding words of kindness:<\/p>\n\u201cAnd I have at last accounted for this last part of my story.\u201d Beowulf\u2019s voice surrounds me, and his image again appears whole before me.
\nBeowulf the warrior reaches out his hand as if to touch me.
\nI extend mine toward him. \u201cWhich causes more pain, I wonder. The words unsaid or the words not said well enough?\u201d<\/h6>\n
This work of literature\u2014epic story \/ poetic novel–deserves a place on the shelves of serious readers of literature, and Susan Thurston, an award-winning Minnesota poet, deserves more critical attention and acclaim. (Click here to read her poem Rapunzel Takes a Stand,\u00a0<\/em>which won the 2016\u00a01st prize in the San Miguel Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival’s contest.)<\/a><\/p>\n\nAbout Susan Thurston, poet\/writer<\/h2>\n\nSusan Thurston relishes spending time with her children Madeleine and Samuel and draws\u00a0inspiration from ancient myths and legends as well as the ceaseless beauty of the Mississippi River\u00a0that flows through the heart of her city. She is working hard to achieve a life that offers more time\u00a0to cherish friendships and create, travel, and read deeply. All of that is enhanced by good food,\u00a0libations, and sun. She is a writer, educator, and professional communicator who lives in St. Paul,\u00a0Minnesota. Her work has been published in numerous publications including the Minneapolis Star\u00a0Tribune<\/em>, Los Angeles Review<\/em>, Garrison Keillor\u2019s The Writer\u2019s Almanac<\/em>, Minnesota Monthly<\/em>, Fox Cry Review<\/em>,\u00a0Rag Mag<\/em>; several anthologies including Open to Interpretation: At Water\u2019s Edge<\/em> (Taylor & O\u2019Neill, 2012),\u00a0Low Down and Coming On<\/em> (Red Dragonfly Press, 2010), Tremors Vibrations Enough to Rearrange the World<\/em>\u00a0(Heywood Press, 1995); and the chapbook Wild Bone Season<\/em> (Heywood Press, 1996). Her novel Sister\u00a0of Grendel<\/em> was published by The Black Hat Press in 2016. She coauthored Cooking-Up the Good Life<\/em>\u00a0(University of Minnesota Press, 2012) with local-food movement leader Chef Jenny Breen. As part\u00a0of earning her master\u2019s degree from Hamline University, she spent time exploring the influence of\u00a0gender on the creative process with the game-changing writers Carol Bly, Patricia Hampl, and\u00a0Meridel Le Sueur.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
So let’s shelf Sister of Grendel<\/em> in literary fiction<\/em>, under the subcategory \u201cepic-narrative-prose-poetry.\u201d In The New<\/i> Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics<\/i>, in more than twelve, two-columned pages of minuscule type, J. K. Newman expounds on the history and theory of Western epic literature from the ancient-classical era through modern times. Citing dozens more English language (male) poems\/poets than I\u2019ve mentioned, along with a score of epics in non-English languages (all by males), Professor Newman mentions just two women poets:<\/p>\n As far as Professor J. K. Newman was concerned, when he was writing in 1999, \u201cthe fragmentation of the Classical tradition [of the epic poem] in our time has \u2026 led to impatient rejection of its relevance.\u201d He infers that all that remains to do with the centuries-long tradition of epic is for scholars to articulate a unifying epic theory that would seek to accommodate the history of individual achievement, as if the epic belongs the dead past.<\/p>\n Seventeen years later, Susan Thurston\u2019s <\/a>Sister of Grende<\/a>l, <\/i>is <\/i>blurring and extending boundaries: of genre (fantasy? allegory? historical?); of form (prose? poetry?); and of critical theory (Neo-romantic? Feminist? Post-gender?). By reinventing the Classical epic, she rejuvenates its relevance for a third-millennial, global culture. She is not alone. Two other contemporary women writers’ poetic tales of epic adventure that spring to mind: Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing<\/em><\/a>; Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard<\/em><\/a>. Doubtless there are others. I’ve observed that women writers are claiming the power of their voices in reshaping cultural values, and epic has a long history of transmitting the moral codes and ethics of individuals and groups. Sister of Grendel <\/i>tells the story of a race of beings, the Anathians, \u201cwho possess refined language and intelligence, great physical strength, and longevity. They\u00a0live close to the natural and spiritual world, are skilled in herbal medicine, music, and magic, and can enter the dreams of sleeping humans.\u201d Specifically, this is the story of the Sister of Grendel, Rehsotis, and how she bridges \u201cthe dangerous divide with humankind\u2014the Smallheaded\u2014with the help of her few allies, including a forsaken monk, a grieving love, and a trusting child.” The archetypal hero\u2019s journey grew to pop-culture status in the years after Bill Moyers\u2019 influential television series with Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, <\/i>aired. <\/i>Rehsotis\u2019 story, however, critiques that archetype. \u00a0The classical mythic hero, Beowulf, seen through the eyes of \u00a0Grendel, his mother, sister and their tribe), is a violent exterminator not only of their people and culture, but also of beauty and wisdom. Rhesotis, a maker of instruments before Beowulf annihilated her family and culture, describes her craft:<\/p>\n This is also, of course, a metaphorical description of the intimate connection between writer and reader, working in concert to bring a narrative to life. If you are a reader who reads to enter “the heart and soul of a writer\u2019s being,” to experience “an emotional journey<\/em> through the symphony of words, <\/a>leading to a stronger grasp of the universe and of ourselves,” you may want to read this story, to bring it to life in your own imagination.<\/p>\n In penning Sister of Grendel<\/em>, Susan Thurston questions militant assumptions about what it means to be heroic<\/i>. She challenges imperialism and colonialism by giving voice to the conquered. She questions the arrogance of conveniently labeling the Other-Stranger a Monster-Demon-Villain, <\/i>which\u00a0silently condones the evil-doings of one’s own cultural institutions and practices, and blindly ignores the destructive prejudices lurking in one’s own psyche. Sister of Grendel<\/em> challenges us to ask, “Whose story is missing?” and to examine our cultural differences and our similarities<\/em> with compassionate clarity. In a July 27th (2017) share of a NewsRepublic.com article on Facebook,\u00a0Sister of Grendel’s\u00a0<\/em>agent Diana Finch wrote, <\/a>“Let the resistance thrive on the bookshelves!” Ms. Thurston’s epic story is indeed a work of resistance, opposing a politics of division, the practice of vilifying the other in justification of their harm, expulsion, and eradication. This work of literature\u2014epic story \/ poetic novel–deserves a place on the shelves of serious readers of literature, and Susan Thurston, an award-winning Minnesota poet, deserves more critical attention and acclaim. (Click here to read her poem Rapunzel Takes a Stand,\u00a0<\/em>which won the 2016\u00a01st prize in the San Miguel Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival’s contest.)<\/a><\/p>\n
\nUnfortunately that shelf doesn’t exist in contemporary bookstores, because the genre is generally considered obsolete and irrelevant.<\/p>\nA micro-summary of the History of Epic Poetry\/Literature from Ancient Classical times through the Modernists (mid-1950\u2019s):<\/h2>\n
Some Classical Epics:<\/h3>\n
\n
Some Pre 18th Century epics:<\/h3>\n
\n
Some 18th Century Satirical Mock epics (something like neoclassical forerunners of The Onion<\/i>)<\/h3>\n
\n
Some 19th Century\u2019s re-envisionings of epic, exploring the mind’s interior adventures and discoveries:<\/h3>\n
\n
Some Modernist re-envisionings of epic, dealing with the tension between self and the culture in which the self exists:<\/h3>\n
\n
Epics authored by women:<\/h3>\n
\n
The death of epic<\/h3>\n
Some 21st Century epics:<\/h3>\n
\n<\/p>\nThe power of epic to shape cultural values<\/h2>\n
\nWhile set in the realm of fantasy, Sister of Grendel<\/em> is not a story of escape from reality. Ms. Thurston does not shy away from the real-life consequences of human selfishness, fear, greed, deception, betrayal, and violence, encountered by all of us without and within ourselves and our communities. She exposes the shadow side of our nature to the light of compassionate reason.
\nShe does not offer readers the false hope of blind optimism, but instead points to healing possibilities existent in poetry,\u00a0story, music, art, artisanship, and the meaningful rituals that bind us together. She reminds us of what \u00a0ennobles us: the loving kindness we demonstrate to one another (an\u00a0other!<\/i>) transforms us from predatory, hostile survivalists into sustainable, hospitable human communities. Failing to extend loving kindness to each and every other keeps us in slavery to our baser instincts.
\nWriting for the Los Angeles Review, here is Nancy Posey on Sister of Grendel<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n\u201cRehsotis (Grendel\u2019s sister) becomes a kind of archetypal hero on her own journey seeking a home and her own people. Thurston creates a world as clear and credible as More\u2019s Utopian or any of Swift\u2019s fabled lands in Gulliver\u2019s Travels.\u201d<\/h6>\n
When I take a piece of wood into my hands, I sense the seasons the tree has known–times of abundance, years of constant thirst, prevailing twists of wind, or an unexpected skewer of lightning. As I work the wood, various tones and colors ripple before my eyes. I blend and mingle the strips of wood…Each player takes up one of my bring boxes, rests it under her chin or across her lap, and draws a tight bow over stretched gut strings, and–knows me. With one of my creations, one never plays alone.”<\/h6>\n
New Epic: Listening to the Missing Stories<\/h2>\n
\nPolitical rhetoric does not create predatory, narrow-minded racism and nationalism. Stories disseminate our values. The words we take into our hearts and pass on to the next generation–about where we came from, what is meaningful, who we are, and what defines heroism–are the building blocks of our moral codes and ethics.
\nMany who seek power and attempt to retain power know how to use the rhetoric of hate and fear. They dump it like bait into shark-infested waters. They pour fear into those minds shaped by stories of violent conquest portrayed as heroism, and they feed hatred.
\nCoincidentally, I recently finished (as a book group assignment)\u00a0Yaa Gyasi’s novel\u00a0<\/a>Homegoing–<\/em>another reinvention of epic for the 21st Century–spanning 300 years and telling the stories of a tribe, the descendants of 2 half-sisters and their experiences of (and participation with) colonialism, slavery, and racism in Ghana and the U.S. Here is an excerpt, in which a history teacher in Ghana speaks to his students:<\/p>\n“This is the problem of history. We cannot know that which were were not there to see and hear and experience for ourselves. We must rely on the words of others…Whose story do we believe, then?”
\nThe boys were silent. They stared at him, waiting.
\n“We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there, you begin to get a clearer, yet still imperfect picture.”<\/h6>\n
\nThis will be a challenging read for those who identify as Christians, as it is told in the voice of a pagan, non-Christian. Ms. Thurston challenges self-righteousness and the justification of inflicting harm on those who believe differently, speak differently, look foreign. She challenges us to listen to the voice of “others” who have been vilified and exterminated. She asks us to understand that every one of us is a limited, fallible, finite-visioned, small-minded creature. In this she admonishes Christians to live without hypocrisy, to adhere to their New Testament teachings–to demonstrate love and compassion for all creatures, to forsake vengeance, to seek forgiveness, and allow God be the judge. Most powerfully, she challenges all to be considerate and careful of the pain we inflict, not only through physical violence, but through the violence of speaking careless words or withholding words of kindness:<\/p>\n\u201cAnd I have at last accounted for this last part of my story.\u201d Beowulf\u2019s voice surrounds me, and his image again appears whole before me.
\nBeowulf the warrior reaches out his hand as if to touch me.
\nI extend mine toward him. \u201cWhich causes more pain, I wonder. The words unsaid or the words not said well enough?\u201d<\/h6>\nAbout Susan Thurston, poet\/writer<\/h2>\n