Art/Adaption of Joyce’s Ulysses by Robert Berry w/ Josh Levitas — Here Bloom’s musin’ serious on the beach

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[ The Graphic Canon (3), Seven Stories Press, Edited by Russ Kick   ]

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Publishers Weekly says The Graphic Canon 3 is “the most beautiful book of the year.” And I can’t disagree.* The Graphic Canon 3 (Series 1 is from Gilgamesh thru the 1700’s and Series 2 is the 19^th century) is a big, colorful and wonderful 576 page collection of graphic versions and adaptations of important (canonical?) 20^th century literature accompanied by helpful notes in which the series editor (Russ Kick) tells a bit about the author and his/her work as well as some background info on how the particular artist adapted it.

(* – There might be other great and beautiful ART and Photography coffee-table “books;” popular “books” of awe-inspiring horse photos, or incredibly cute puppies or kittens; but this is ART about and often consisting, for the most part, in great literature. Some of the ART is breathtaking. And also breathtaking, sometimes, is the ways in which the ART engages and interprets the source text.)

So, ok, yeah, it’s a beautiful book that I think also will provoke much thought and discussion– and in this write-up I’m going to sketch out 4 ways in which I personally engaged with it.

Emelie Östergren’s riff off William S. Burrough’s “Naked Lunch”

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However, first I want to bring up a few possible negatives: READ MORE >