It's often said that certain books only come around once in a generation, Gethsemane is the kind of book that maybe comes around once in a lifetime, and is presented as a literary innovation destined to be a cultural artifact, not just fictional pulp. Gethsemane is not your epic poem in the traditional sense. Its body of work is composed as an ode in three acts, but formatted as a linear narrative that is divided by one hundred forty-eight verses that read like sonnets. Each stanza (or poetic sentence) is no longer than twelve syllables in length, and each ends in a unique rhyme. Not a single rhyme was repeated, which accentuates the melodic beauty of each verse. The antagonist is also the protagonist-one of biblical lore who takes us on a journey to better understand the ominous nature of our being, as humans, through his actions of deceit and seduction. Still, the irony we discover in following his journey is one predicated on redemption as its central theme. Gethsemane is not only meant to enlighten our senses from a philosophical standpoint, but the tales interwoven within these pages will immerse your imagination in depths seldom explored in contemporary literature.
About the Author: R. Douglas Jacobs, the person, still remains an enigma, whereas, R. Douglas Jacobs, the poet, has developed a clear and distinctive voice as a storyteller four years after he first entered the literary forum as an author with the debut of his sonnet anthology, The Rhymes of Love and Reason. That book was met with little publicity and less fanfare due to the fact that he was virtually anonymous and had no reputation to uphold among critics and consumers, alike. This initial endeavor of his, however, would turn out to serve as a primer for his new, ambitious book, Gethsemane, a sweeping epic poem that transcends the boundaries of literature through its rare prowess and ingenuity. This undertaking presented major challenges over a two and a half year span that often consumed his psyche and pushed him to the brink of reasoning. On one occasion, the anxiety of confronting the climatic nuance of the second act caused him to frantically ride his road bike into the cold darkness of a coastal boardwalk on a late, Thanksgiving Eve in 2010. His relationships became impaired by neglect and he experienced considerable weight loss. Yet, he persevered and entrusted his faith to lead his imagination in ways it had never been led before. Gethsemane was not only a metaphorical escape, but was an asylum for him to exercise his demons, and the end result is as poignant as it is profound. If R. Douglas Jacobs, the poet, were to speak on behalf of R. Douglas Jacobs, the person, he would argue that the person in him will always be misunderstood for the simple, yet sincere, fact that his heart has never known how to discriminate.