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 volumesāmany newly commissioned, some hard to findāreinterpreted 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 adaptedāthe tragedy Medea by Euripides and Tania Schragās uninhibited rendering of the very bawdy comedy Lysistrata by Aristophanes (the text of which is still censored in many textbooks). Also included is Robert Crumbās rarely-seen adaptation of James Boswellās 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 Gearyās awe-inspiring new rendition of the Book of Revelation from the New Testament, the Tao te Ching, Rumiās Sufi poetry, Hinduismās Mahabharata, and the Mayan holy book Popol Vuh, illustrated by Roberta Gregory. The Eastern canon gets its due, with The Tale of Genji (the worldās first novel, done in full-page illustrations reminiscent of Aubrey Beardsley), three poems from Chinaās 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 Shakespeareās greatest plays (King Lear and A Midsummer Nightās Dream) and two of his sonnets are here, as are Platoās Symposium, Gulliverās 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 in this volume include a Native American folktale, an Incan play, Sapphoās 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.
Edited by Russ Kick, The Graphic Canon is an extraordinary collection that will continue with Volume 2: "Kubla Khan" to the Bronte Sisters to The Picture of Dorian Gray in Summer 2012, and Volume 3: From Heart of Darkness to Hemingway to Infinite Jest in Fall 2012. A boxed set of all three volumes will also be published in Fall 2012.
Chapter 52
Chapter 2
Chapter 156
Chapter 2
Chapter 14
Chapter 32
Chapter 2
Chapter 24
Chapter 49
Chapter 12
Chapter 27
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Chapter 5
Chapter 4.5
Chapter 26
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 128
Chapter 1
Chapter 20
Chapter 5