Novelty verse

The golden gate
By Vikram Seth

And so it starts.....

"To make a start more swift than weighty, Hail Muse. Dear Reader, once upon A time, say circa 1980,
There lived a man. His name was John.
Successful in his field though only
Twenty-six, respected, lonely,
One evening as he walked across
Golden Gate Park, the ill-judged toss
Of a red Frisbee almost brained him.
He thought, "If I died, who'd be sad?
Who'd weep? Who'd gloat? Who would be glad?
Would anybody?" As it pained him,
He turned from this dispiriting theme
To ruminations less extreme."

Most readers of literature keep the lines between poetry and prose clear. Poetry is poetry and prose... well, the last person to do prose any real justice was Shakespeare. However, in that regard Vikram Seth carves a unique niche. To say all his works are ambitious projects would be an understatement. Combining autobiographical elements with political and social comments is a signature hallmark of Seth, and The Golden Gate, (his novel in verse) sets standards that are hard to follow.

Inspired by Eugene Onegin, The Golden Gate is a modern poetic treasure. A contemporary novel written completely in verse it tells the story of three twenty-something friends from the eighties living in California's Silicon Valley looking for love, pleasure and meaning in life.

With the Reagan era as its background the protagonist John, Janet his best friend, and mutual university friend to the two, Phil, stumble through the pitfalls and successes of everyday life — except they do it in verse! John is a lonely San Francisco yuppie in search of love. His friend Janet helps him out by putting an ad in the personals which results in a series of blind dates for John. Soon he meets Liz and they fall in love but there are complications. Also thrown in the mix is Phil, a washed-up genius. Between these three friends the story grows, taking different twists and turns.

Received with critical appreciation the book is a surprisingly welcome and engaging read. Affectionately satirical, self mocking while still touching and humorous, The Golden Gate hails the singular genius that is Vikram Seth.

Author of the week: Vikram Seth

Born June 20, 1952 Vikram Seth is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist. An unusually forthcoming writer whose published material is replete with thinly-disguised details of his and his close intimates' personal lives, Seth writes in a highly engaging narrative voice.

The first of his novels, The Golden Gate (1986) is a novel in verse written entirely in rhyming tetrameter sonnets after the style of Charles Johnston's 1977 translation of Aleksandr Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. His published works include the fictional novels A Suitable Boy (1993) and An Equal Music (1999); books of poems Mappings (1980), The Humble Administrator's Garden (1985), All You Who Sleep Tonight (1990), Beastly Tales (1991), Three Chinese Poets (1992) and non fictional works From Heaven Lake (1983) and Two Lives (2005), among others.

- The writer is an avid reader and collector of books based in Dubai