Explorers of Gor:
An Introductory Rhyme
by Hersius

“Adventure here!” the storyteller yells.
The saga Gor continues as he tells
of Tarl, again on mission sent; a quest
to stop a Kurii plot against the Nest.
This tale involves the Kurii-crafted rings.
A mystery this time John Norman brings.
“To jungles now, to rivers, mighty falls,
to swamps and jungle lakes!” the writer calls.
Let’s read! Let’s turn the pages now with zest
to see how Tarl once more will face the test.

Norman’s Commentaries on Poets
by Hersius

In a wonderful set of commentaries in Book 21, Mercenaries of Gor, mostly between pages 112 and 117, Norman shows that although he has respect for genuine mythico-poetic traditions, he does not hesitate to serve up satire for the pompousoly trite. Satire for the presumptuously embarrassing poet/playwright/performer has been around ever since the comedian Aristophenes’ The Frogs in which Dionysus had to look for good poets among the shades in Hades since there were no contemporary poets worthy of the name.

Norman’s writings offer the historic perspective equating poetry and song in preliterate times. Early poems were meant to be sung. This view is preserved in making Poets and Singers into the same Caste. Moreover, in the passage noted above, Norman states that literacy is not a prerequisite for poetry. Poetry, then, is seen as a performance genre, as is the play, rather than as a contemplative literary genre such as the novel. Ideally, poetry/song speaks to people, as shown by the exploits of “Tarl of Bristol” being extolled in song and by the nickname of Ko-ro-ba being taken from the lines of a poem.

Norman’s prose itself has moments when it reaches for heroic saga-poem, such as the repetition of the line, “On a tower of Thentis I left her.”

In many places today, performance poetry has made a resurgence. No longer a “beatnik” image, coffeehouses in many cities and towns across (at least) the U.S. currently host “open mic” performance opportunities and “slam poetry” performances and competitions.

It is therefore fitting that reminders be made that not everything that passes itself off as poetry is worthy of remembrance. The foil that Norman uses to illustrate the point is an Alar named Hurtha. Hurtha has a penchant for making up verse and revising it on the spot. The problem is that his compositions are painful to listen to, and he uses them as part of his modus operandi of intimidating money out of victims. Ostensibly, he sells his victims his poetry.

The passage above is marvelous comedy as Tarl and one of Hurtha's victims and then Tarl and Hurtha banter about the quality of verse offered as poetry. The final exchange concludes the matter as Hurtha extols everything his poems in fact are not but which so many self-important poets aggrandize their work to be:

Hurtha: “All great poets are prolific ... Would you care to hear them?”

Tarl: “Not at the moment ... You see, I have just, this evening, read some of them. I do not know if I could take more, just now.”

Hurtha: “I understand ... I am one well aware of the complexities of coping with grandeur, of the exquisite agonies attendant upon wrestling with nigh ineffable sublimities, with the excruciating intensities of the authentic aesthetic experience, with the travails of poignant significance, with the exhausting consequences of confronting sudden and startling distillations of meaning. No, old friend, I understand these things full well. I shall not force you beyond your strength.”