Hevel.org: A Chasing after Wind

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Sep 19th, 2009 by Bryan

Fabulous. Boing Boing has a few pages from the upcoming graphic novelization of Genesis, based on Robert Alter’s translation. This is going to be excellent.

Posted in Bible

3 Responses to “The Book of Genesis, illustrated by R. Crumb”

on 20 Sep 2009 at 2:24 am1Dave

Awesome. Do you think they will do Gen 38?
I like the choice of Alter’s translation.
on 20 Sep 2009 at 7:57 am2Bryan

I would assume so, Dave. The cover image says “Adult supervisions recommended for minors” and “Nothing left out!” I’m looking forward to reading this with students.
on 23 Oct 2009 at 1:47 am3Chuck

Some of us appreciate Crumb as a trend setter and yes, he did break through the wall of censorship that went up after the Congressional comic book hearings in the ’50s. I had a sneak peak of the book of genesis illustrated here and wanted to compare more independent opinions.

For some of us it’s nostalgia—I was a horny, teen-age hippie when I first discovered undergrounds back in the ’60s. That being said, if you study his body of work you start to understand the point of view he brings to even the simplest illustration. Crumb is a self-aware, sexually immature, cynic who has few heroes (blues musicians, etc.). Sure, there are better illustrators but none that would deliver the Bible from his POV. I think of Crumb as the cartoonist’s Ivan Albright. He could draw/paint the loveliest subject and still make you wonder if there wasn’t something rotten just out of view.