Columbia U. School of the Arts on "Mr. Either/Or"

Aaron Poochigian '16 publishes novel in verse

September 28, 2017

Etruscan Press recently published a novel by Aaron Poochigian '16.

A novel in verse, Mr. Either/Or blends American mythology, noir thriller and classical epic into “gritty rhythms, foreboding overtones, and groovy jams” that lends it a surreal air.

The 184-page novel has already received accolades from readers.

A.M. Juster writes that the book is “a kaleidoscopic fusion of the masterful verse of Richard Wilbur and the hipster wryness of Douglas Adams,” and that it “combines multiple genres, high culture with pop culture, and grimness with exuberance.”

Another reviewer, Chris Childers, said the novel is “seething with cartoon villainy, pratfalls, B-movie clichés, and vivid brutality,” and likened it to a pop symphony.

Gregory Dowling praised the book as “nothing else you will have read.”

“You have to imagine Raymond Chandler, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. P. Lovecraft, the script-writers of The Sopranos, Robert Browning and the author of Beowulf all being miraculously melded into one supremely talented writer, with a gift for rhyme, for metrical verse and for extravagant but spot-on metaphors,” Dowling writes. “The story is entertaining, fast-moving and delightfully over-the-top.”

Poochigian completed his PhD in Classics from the University of Minnesota before earning his MFA in poetry from Columbia.

His book of translations by Sappho, Stung With Love, was published by Penguin Classics in 2009, and his translation of Apollonius’ Jason and the Argonauts was released in 2014.

Poochigian was awarded a 2010-2011 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for his translation work. His first book of poetry, The Cosmic Purr, was published in 2012.

Mr. Either/Or is available for order through IndieBound or Amazon.

https://arts.columbia.edu/news/wri-aaron-poochigian-16-publishes-novel-v...