I need help. Fortunately, there's the Internets.

[larryhammer]

Pimp me an epic.

Well, it doesn't have to be an actual epic. A book-length poem or poem cycle is what I'm in the mood for, but a sufficiently chewy prose epic (such as Journey to the West) might also do the trick. It doesn't have to be heroic, either -- comic epics (see Journey; also, Orlando Furioso) are also acceptable. Duration and chewiness are a must, though. I'm in need of diversion that lasts me a while. My one other requirement is print edition -- I don't have an e-reader and the point is to get away from the computer.

Things which I poked at and rejected include Troilus and Criseyde, as for now, at least, I don't have the brainpower to read outside my own vernacular, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, as I don't have the brainpower to keep track of almost a thousand named characters. Things which I have picked up but failed to committed myself to include Williams's Taliessin Through Logres/Region of the Summer Stars, Lucan's Civil War, Knox's Dreamhunter duet, Robinson's Forty Signs of Rain trilogy, and John Brown's Body, any one of which I could possibly be sold on, if you're persuasive enough. I am open to any suggestion, even if I've read it before.

Help?

---L.

Comments

[stevendj.livejournal.com]

You've already read Kim, I presume?

[larryhammer]

Yup. Last reread about a couple years ago, just before reading Laurie King's The Game.

---L.