Light of the North Star
Light of the North Star is an epic poem composed in English in the 21st century by Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharya. The epic is composed in blank verse, or unrhymed metrical lines, in a tradition of English poetry that can be traced back to the 16th century, though unrhymed works can be found in non-English poems composed in Latin and Ancient Greek. Unlike its ancient predecessors or the later works inspired by them, Light of the North Star is a novel construct with a slew of new characters and storylines.
Light of the North Star parts ways with its predecessors is in its unification of multiple modes of expression. With insight into philosophy and religion, the poem as literature is a mixed-media creation with the integration of digital graphics for each book. Its audio rendition is accompanied by music and narrated by two actors—Dominic Keating and Jean Gilpin—and was produced by Deyan Audio in Los Angeles, California. Dominic Keating’s success in television, film, and theatre is well known, particularly for his lead role in Star Trek: Enterprise, The Pitchfork Disney, and Beowulf with Angelina Jolie. A lesser known role is his narration of the entire Iliad, translated by Caroline Alexander in 2016, thereby making him particularly suitable for this role. Jean is known for her work as a television and film actress and voice-acting specialist for over 200 Hollywood films, including X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Chronicles of Riddick, and The Fault in Our Stars.
The story begins in medias res, or ‘in the middle of things’—a clear nod to the Homeric tradition—that picks up decades after the fall of Troy and a great flood that submerged the ancient Indian city of Dwaraka. These events, and the subsequent voyage and return of Odysseus to his native land of Ithaca, mark the end of an important era in both the Greek and Indian traditions. In Greece, the philosopher Hesiod would later describe the transition from the Age of Heroes to the Age of Iron, the present age when “virtue no more distinguishes the great,” and “the pious, just, and good, neglected stand.” Similarly, in ancient India, the flood of Dwaraka marked the Yuga-Sandhi, or transitional period between two eras into the present age, known as the Age of Discord or Strife.
The tale begins in the immediate aftermath of the great flood that submerges the entire city of Dwaraka. A Greek envoy who had just left the city, but witnessed the horrific turn of events, rushes home to inform King Solon of the tragedy. Solon then leads an army east to see if he can render aid to any survivors, but only finds an old counselor, Alanam, who can barely hold himself together. The Greeks come to learn that a band of thieves led by a rogue chieftain, Ninamshu, has taken his spoils and occupied a land known as Kaldesh. The reaction to this news on the part of numerous characters sets in motion a series of decisions and events that starts to build and strain relationships within, and across, the empires.
References[edit]
This article "Light of the North Star" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Light of the North Star. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
