Book recommendation: Jimmy Corrigan

William Ansley · 15 Mar 2001, 23:08 · from urth-v0030.mbox · original

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From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Subject: (urth) Book recommendation: Jimmy Corrigan
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 23:08:28
Message-ID: <urth-v0030-0299 at digest.urth.net>
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I didn't chime in during the "who's a catholic" discussion. I'm not=20
one, but my tastes in reading are.

I know there are some other people on this list who like reading=20
comic books, oops, I mean a graphic novels, so I feel it is=20
appropriate to strongly recommend _Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid=20
on Earth_ by Chris Ware, which I have just finished reading.

I am mentioning it on this list because I feel there are certain=20
resonances between Gene Wolfe's work and Chris Ware's. They share a=20
certain formality of tone and Ware also makes you do your fair share=20
(or more) of the work in figuring out what is going on in the story.

Ware's protagonist is much more dysfunctional than most of Wolfe's=20
characters and his story is more grim tahn many. Ware's book also is=20
not science fiction or fantasy, although it certainly draws on these=20
genres.

I think very highly of Scott McCloud's 1993 book _Understanding=20
Comics_, in fact I would go so far as to say that I think it is a=20
work of genius. One of McCloud's themes is that comics can accomplish=20
things that can be done in no other medium. If you want a=20
demonstration that this is true, read _Jimmy Corrigan_.

William Ansley

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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