20,
Erasure Poems of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea
Poems by Jennifer Roche
“Roche transforms Verne’s work into a ship’s signal lamp, transmitting flashes of insight, warning, and a tender awareness of interconnectedness that may buoy us yet.”
—Allison Boyd Justus,
author of Solstice to Solstice to Solstice
author of Solstice to Solstice to Solstice
First serialized in a French periodical between March 1869 and June 1870, Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea forever changed not only the arena of fiction as we knew it, but our relationship to the sea. Considered by most to be one of the earliest works of science fiction, Verne’s imaginative, wondrous novel has lent itself to hundreds of translations and interpretations the world over, introducing new generations to a fathomless world of infinite mystery and unearthly beauty from the depths. In the twenty-first century, however, it’s hard to imagine the bottomless ocean without the comprehension of all the harm and shifts that humans have wrought to this natural marvel from which all life sprang.
In text artist and poet Jennifer Roche’s erasure of Verne’s classic, this contemporary sensibility and awareness meets the adventurous realm of an ancient underwater sci-fi. With a mix of mourning, precaution, awe, and fascination, Roche has given urgent context to old words, and ignited them with new breath. Pulling in our post-industrial world on the cusp of the Anthropocene, with its gun violence, refugees, war, overstuffed prisons, climate change, and destruction of natives—both human and nonhuman alike—Roche has begged of us a furious calling to protect and cherish the seas that swirl around us. She has transformed a classic into fresh work that stands on its own merit, reaching into the past to speak to our troubling modern times, and reminding us: the sea is everything.
Content warnings: climate trauma
In text artist and poet Jennifer Roche’s erasure of Verne’s classic, this contemporary sensibility and awareness meets the adventurous realm of an ancient underwater sci-fi. With a mix of mourning, precaution, awe, and fascination, Roche has given urgent context to old words, and ignited them with new breath. Pulling in our post-industrial world on the cusp of the Anthropocene, with its gun violence, refugees, war, overstuffed prisons, climate change, and destruction of natives—both human and nonhuman alike—Roche has begged of us a furious calling to protect and cherish the seas that swirl around us. She has transformed a classic into fresh work that stands on its own merit, reaching into the past to speak to our troubling modern times, and reminding us: the sea is everything.
Content warnings: climate trauma
Perfectbound Trade Paperback $14.99
Digital eBook Formats $5.99
Libraries, Universities, & Booksellers
•The print version is listed in the Ingram catalogue.
•Booksellers ordering direct from us can get a 60/40 split, no shipping costs, returns accepted. Enter quantity here.
Praise for 20,
“Like an oracle, Roche commands the words of Verne to float to the surface to cast prophetic warnings about the darkness we face today. But In her deft care, these poems molt the crusted shell of the past and emerge in our times shiny and wondrous.”
—Armin Tolentino,
author of We Meant to Bring It Home Alive
author of We Meant to Bring It Home Alive
“Roche’s deft slicing and silencing of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea transforms Verne’s work into a ship’s signal lamp, transmitting flashes of insight and warning: the barbs of human nature threaten our shared voyage, while a tender awareness of interconnectedness may buoy us yet.”
—Allison Boyd Justus,
author of Solstice to Solstice to Solstice
author of Solstice to Solstice to Solstice
“Forces the imagination to be at work, to fill in the empty spaces, to zoom out of the surrounding frames. A wondrous work that uses 20,000 Leagues as source material and runs with it, does it justice, making its own unique voyage for the ages.”
—Neon Pajamas
About 20,
• Erasure Poems | Ink-and-Watercolor Artwork
• Published by Alternating Current Press
• 5” x 8” Perfectbound Trade Paperback
• Cream Paper, 64 Pages
• Print ISBN-13: 978-1-946580-14-6
• Print ISBN-10: Coming Soon
• First Edition: March 3, 2020
• Permalink | Short URL: tinyurl.com/20roche
• Request Review Copy
Images for public use for 20,
Click to view/download high-resolution front cover in: [JPG].
Click to view/download high-resolution full jacket in: [JPG], [PDF].
Click here to view/download hi-resolution photo of author Jennifer Roche by Mary Rafferty.
Click here to view/download hi-resolution photo of artist Hosho McCreesh by Freddie De La Cruz.
There is no book trailer at this time.
This feature is coming soon.
Reviews for 20,
Goodreads
Amazon
Reviewed on Neon Pajamas
Listed in Entropy’s Quarantine Reading: Books You Shouldn’t Forget to Buy
About Jennifer Roche
JENNIFER ROCHE is a poet, writer, and text artist who lives in Chicago, Illinois. Her poems have appeared in or are forthcoming in Tule Review; Storm Cellar; Footnote: A Literary Journal of History (#2); Oyez Review; Rain, Party & Disaster Society; and Ghost Ocean. She was named a “Writer to Watch in 2019 & Beyond” by the Chicago Literary Guild and a 2016 Charter Oak Award Semifinalist for Best Historical writing.
About Hosho McCreesh
HOSHO McCREESH is currently writing and painting in the gypsum and caliche badlands of the American Southwest. His work has appeared widely in print, in audio, and online.
If you like this, you might also like:
