A Review of Paul Metcalf's Genoa
Deron Bauman

I cannot recommend Paul Metcalf's Genoa more enthusiastically. Although fairly difficult to find in its original incarnation (and expensive) a few solely-containing paper backs are available for those willing to search for them, and the Coffee House Press has produced, in a set of three volumes, the collected works in which, in the first volume, Genoa may be found. But what will a reader find there? Modernism, certainly; a vast collection--interspersed between and supporting his narrative--of readings gleaned from Melville and Columbus, primarily, as well as, secondarily (and so on) portions of newspaper clippings, letters, and medical books. The book approximates a journey, both intellectually and realistically, and ends with the "sulphurous" beginnings of a newly formed day.... But I have said too much: perhaps you will be made curious enough by these brief descriptions to search it out and read a well balanced, utterly engaging masterpiece by the great grandson of the author of another great intellectual odyssey, Herman Melville.

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