The Green Odyssey

"The Green Odyssey" is an American science fiction novel written by Philip José Farmer. It was Farmer's first book-length publication, originally released by Ballantine| in 1957. Unlike Farmer's most prolific earlier short story work, this book contains no sexual themes, though his next book "Flesh" returned to these motifs.

Plot summary

"The Green Odyssey" is a relatively straightforward adventure story, involving an astronaut named Alan Green stranded on a primative planet, where he is claimed as a gigolo by a duchess and is married to a slave woman. Upon hearing of two other stranded astronauts, he escapes from the duchess, and sets sail to find them. However, because of the peculiar geography of the planet, there is a vast expansive plain, instead of an ocean to cross. Green uses a ship equipped with large rolling pin-like wheels along the bottom to traverse the plains of this world.

After his escape from the duchess he is followed by his slave woman wife and her children (one is his). There follow several fairly standard adventure plots with cannibals, pirates, floating islands (that turn out to be giant lawnmowers), and the deus ex machina, a female black cat named Lady Luck.

Reaction and analysis

The book was met with mixed reviews. Many were disappointed by this new work after Farmer's widely praised "The Lovers". While that story was almost universally regarded as unique and an excellently written, "Odyssey" was frequently criticised for being clichéd and generic. For instance, author and critic Damon Knight said in the November 1957 issue of "Infinity" that the book was a "pastel pastiche, superficial and generic, of Tarzan, Conan [...] and heaven knows what else". However, in hindsight, "The Green Odyssey" was perhaps a deliberate pastiche of pulp novels, similar to Farmer's later "A Feast Unknown" and, to a lesser extent, his fictional biographies "Tarzan Alive" and "".

References

* [http://www.pjfarmer.com/books.htm#green "The Green Odyssey"] at Farmer's official website.
* [http://www.pjfarmer.com/reviews.htm#green Reviews of "Green"] at Farmer's official website.