Gojiro is the 1991 debut novel

Debut novel

A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...

 by former Esquire

Esquire (magazine)

Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...

columnist Mark Jacobson

Mark Jacobson

Mark Jacobson is an American author and writer.-Early life:Jacobson graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and achieved recognition in New York City whilst writing for the Village Voice in the 1970s, most particularly for a lurid account of life in the Chinatown Ghost Shadows...

. It reinterprets the Godzilla film series

Godzilla (film series)

Original movie poster for [[Godzilla |Godzilla]].|thumb is a popular series of giant monster films featuring the character Godzilla. Starting in 1954, the Godzilla series has become one of the longest running film series in movie history....

 from the perspective of the daikaiju

Kaiju

is a Japanese word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....

—not a fictional creature depicted on-screen via suitmation

Suitmation

is a term originally used in Japan for a tokusatsu technique to portray a daikaiju using a suit actor in a monster suit.The term can be used when puppet does not apply, since the puppet is being worn by an actor, and when costume does not apply, since the costume is also being controlled by a...

, but an irradiated varanid-turned B-movie

B-movie

A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

 star named Gojiro (an homage to Gojira, the Japanese name for Godzilla

Godzilla

is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...

). Gojiro, a freak mutation

Mutation

In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...

 with a cynical worldview, suffers the pain of solitude

Solitude

Solitude is a state of seclusion or isolation, i.e., lack of contact with people. It may stem from bad relationships, deliberate choice, infectious disease, mental disorders, neurological disorders or circumstances of employment or situation .Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one...

 as well as several maladies experienced by entertainers, including drug abuse

Drug abuse

Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...

 and suicidal tendencies. The story revolves around his adventures with human friend Komodo, a scientific genius

Genius

Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....

 scarred as a child by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, as they attempt to fulfill their "Triple Ring Promise" to bring about world peace

World peace

World Peace is an ideal of freedom, peace, and happiness among and within all nations and/or people. World peace is an idea of planetary non-violence by which nations willingly cooperate, either voluntarily or by virtue of a system of governance that prevents warfare. The term is sometimes used to...

. The odyssey takes them from their home on Radioactive Island—also home to several children, called Atoms, suffering from radiation sickness

Radiation Sickness

Radiation Sickness is a VHS by the thrash metal band Nuclear Assault. The video is a recording of a concert at the Hammersmith Odeon, London in 1988. It was released in 1991...

—to several locations in Hollywood and the Trinity site in New Mexico.

The novel is often compared to John Gardner's earlier novel Grendel

Grendel (novel)

Grendel is a 1971 parallel novel by American author John Gardner. It is a retelling of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf from the perspective of the antagonist, Grendel. The novel deals with finding meaning in the world, the power of literature and myth, and the nature of good and evil.Grendel...

, a retelling of the Beowulf

Beowulf

Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...

epic through the eyes of the monster.

Editions

• ISBN 0-87113-396-2 (hardcover, Pub Group West, 1991)
• ISBN 0-553-29743-0 (paperback, Bantam Books, 1993)
• ISBN 0-8021-3539-0 (paperback, Pub Group West, 1998)
• ISBN 1-930815-35-2 (e-book, 2000)

External links

• Sacks, David (1991). "How Godzilla Overcame Despair". The New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2006.
• Anisfield, Nancy (1995). "Godzilla/Gojiro: Evolution of the Nuclear Metaphor". Journal of Popular Culture 29 3: 53–62. Retrieved January 23, 2006.
• Gojiro at eBookMall