The Graphic Canon, Vol. 1-3

Zusatztext "Collecting nearly two hundred classic and modern works of literature adapted into comics form by an small army of cartoonists! this extensive three-volume anthology is a testament to the evocative power of words and pictures." Publishers Weekly "These works of literature do not reside just on the shelves of academia; they flourish in the eye of our imagination ... will leave you awe-struck." New York Times Book Review "Russ Kick is an inspired genius. Or maybe a genius inspired. Whatever way! you will not forget The Graphic Canon ." Counterpunch "It's easily the most ambitious and successfully realized literary project in recent memory! and certainly the one that's most relevant for today's readers" NPR ! Indie Booksellers Pick 2012's Best " The Graphic Canon is startlingly brilliant." School Library Journal "This meaty slab is laced with more wit! beauty! social commentary and shock than one might expect." Kirkus Reviews "This is not only a survey of the world's diverse artistic past! but also a breathtaking glimpse of this young medium's incredible future...proves most powerful in its tear-inducing panoply of graphic talents and styles working in the comics medium." Booklist "The trilogy should occupy a prominent place in all adult graphic novel collections." Library Journal " The Graphic Canon is absolutely the most ambitious book I've picked up this year." Newsday "Bold! brilliant ... By turns playful and beautiful! this visual treatment is more than entertainment; it offers a new perspective for understanding these enduring works." Reader's Digest "A treasure trove for literary comics fans." Wired "A vibrant! feverish dance through some of the best parts of our artistic history." Paste Magazine "The beauty of The Graphic Canon - beyond the consistently exquisite contributions of its many cartoonists - is the breadth of the material! drawing from across cultures and eras ... These three volumes are a perfect example of the value of comics as both informative and educational books and as things of beauty." Digital Spy " The Graphic Canon is basically all of the greatest literature in the history of the world! as seen through the eyes of the greatest comic artists in the world. If you think that sounds pretty epically amazing! you would not be wrong." DorkShelf Informationen zum Autor Russ Kick Klappentext THE GRAPHIC CANON (Seven Stories Press) is a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind trilogy that brings classic literatures of the world together with legendary graphic artists and illustrators. There are more than 130 illustrators represented and 190 literary works over three volumes-many newly commissioned, some hard to find-reinterpreted here for readers and collectors of all ages. Volume 1 takes us on a visual tour from the earliest literature through the end of the 1700s. Along the way, we're treated to eye-popping renditions of the human race's greatest epics: Gilgamesh, The Iliad, The Odyssey (in watercolors by Gareth Hinds), The Aeneid, Beowulf, and The Arabian Nights, plus later epics The Divine Comedy and The Canterbury Tales (both by legendary illustrator and graphic designer Seymour Chwast), Paradise Lost, and Le Morte D'Arthur. Two of ancient Greece's greatest plays are adapted-the tragedy Medea by Euripides and Tania Schrag's uninhibited rendering of the very bawdy comedy Lysistrata by Aristophanes (the text of which is still censored in many textbooks). Also included is Robert Crumb's rarely-seen adaptation of James Boswell's London Journal, filled with philosophical debate and lowbrow debauchery. Religious literature is well-covered...

Autorentext

Russ Kick

Klappentext

THE GRAPHIC CANON (Seven Stories Press) is a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind trilogy that brings classic literatures of the world together with legendary graphic artists and illustrators. There are more than 130 illustrators represented and 190 literary works over three volumes-many newly commissioned, some hard to find-reinterpreted here for readers and collectors of all ages.

Volume 1 takes us on a visual tour from the earliest literature through the end of the 1700s. Along the way, we're treated to eye-popping renditions of the human race's greatest epics: Gilgamesh, The Iliad, The Odyssey (in watercolors by Gareth Hinds), The Aeneid, Beowulf, and The Arabian Nights, plus later epics The Divine Comedy and The Canterbury Tales (both by legendary illustrator and graphic designer Seymour Chwast), Paradise Lost, and Le Morte D'Arthur. Two of ancient Greece's greatest plays are adapted-the tragedy Medea by Euripides and Tania Schrag's uninhibited rendering of the very bawdy comedy Lysistrata by Aristophanes (the text of which is still censored in many textbooks). Also included is Robert Crumb's rarely-seen adaptation of James Boswell's London Journal, filled with philosophical debate and lowbrow debauchery.

Religious literature is well-covered and well-illustrated, with the Books of Daniel and Esther from the Old Testament, Rick Geary's awe-inspiring new rendition of the Book of Revelation from the New Testament, the Tao te Ching, Rumi's Sufi poetry, Hinduism's Mahabharata, and the Mayan holy book Popol Vuh, illustrated by Roberta Gregory. The Eastern canon gets its due, with The Tale of Genji (the world's first novel, done in full-page illustrations reminiscent of Aubrey Beardsley), three poems from China's golden age of literature lovingly drawn by pioneering underground comics artist Sharon Rudahl, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, a Japanese Noh play, and other works from Asia.

Two of Shakespeare's greatest plays (King Lear and A Midsummer Night's Dream) and two of his sonnets are here, as are Plato's Symposium, Gulliver's Travels, Candide, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Renaissance poetry of love and desire, and Don Quixote visualized by the legendary Will Eisner.

Some unexpected twists include a Native American folktale, an Incan play, Sappho's poetic fragments, bawdy essays by Benjamin Franklin, the love letters of Abelard and Heloise, and the decadent French classic Dangerous Liaisons, as illustrated by Molly
Crabapple.

The Graphic Canon, Volume 2 gives us a visual cornucopia based on the wealth of literature from the 1800s. Several artists-including Maxon Crumb and Gris Grimly-present their versions of Edgar Allan Poe's visions. The great American novel Huckleberry Finn is adapted uncensored for the first time, as Twain wrote it. The bad boys of Romanticism-Shelley, Keats, and Byron-are visualized here, and so are the Brontë sisters. We see both of Coleridge's most famous poems: "Kubla Khan" and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (the latter by British comics legend Hunt Emerson). Philosophy and science are ably represented by ink versions of Nietzsche'sThus Spake Zarathustra and Darwin's On the Origin of Species.

Frankenstein, Moby-Dick, Les Misérables, Great Expectations, Middlemarch, Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment (a hallucinatory take on the pivotal murder scene), Thoreau's Walden (in spare line art by John Porcellino of King-Cat Comics fame), "The Drunken Boat" by Rimbaud, Leaves of Grass by Whitman, and two of Emily Dickinson's greatest poems are all present and accounted for. John Coulthart has created ten magnificent full-page collages that tell the story of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. And Pride and Prejudice has never looked this splendiferous!

Dame Darcy puts her unmistakable stamp on-what else?-the Alice books in a new 16-page tour-de-force, while a dozen other artists present their versions of the most famous characters and moments from Wonderland. There's also a gorgeous silhouetted telling of "Jabberwocky," and Mahendra's Singh's surrealistic take on "The Hunting of the Snark."

Curveballs include fairy tales illustrated by the untameable S. Clay Wilson, a fiery speech from freed slave Frederick Douglass (rendered in stark black and white by Seth Tobocman), a lett…