Calonne's book will be accessible even to someone unfamiliar with Crumb, and it includes numerous illustrations." - B. A common thread throughout the book is Crumb's ongoing fascination with diverse traditions like Zen Buddhism, Gnosticism, and existentialism, traditions that emphasize the development of the inner self. The work culminates with a discussion of Crumb's provocative, illustrated version of the book of Genesis (2009). The influences are wide-ranging and include the Beat movement, early jazz and blues, and the authors Philip K. "Calonne focuses primarily on Crumb's intellectual and stylistic influences and how these affected his work and evolution as an artist. Soper, Brigham Young University, Studies in American Humor For example, the second chapter, ‘Jelly Roll Morton, Charley Patton: Blues, Voodoo, and the Devil,’ is a fascinating exploration of both the visual and narrative facets of Crumb’s celebration of early blues singers and voodoo folk culture." - Kerry D. In its generous exploration of the connections between Crumb’s political beliefs, artistic influences, and spiritual yearnings, this book evoked what fascinated me about Crumb when I first encountered his work: how the raw honesty and poignancy of his expressionistic drawings and autobiographical stories felt so much more authentic than the highly mediated mainstream comics of most magazines and newspapers. The book is cleverly organized according to Crumb’s philosophical affinities with existentialist and countercultural thinkers: Kerouac, Sartre, Kafka, Phillip K. Moreover, Calonne’s knowledge of literary history and cultural/political movements of the twentieth century is impressive. " is engagingly written in a conversational and dynamic style. Crumb: Literature, Autobiography, and the Quest for Self is extensive, evocative, and invaluable. Calonne has done excellent work gathering up the proliferate allusions throughout Crumb’s oeuvre, and he has made outstanding observations on Crumb’s drawing style and changes over the decades. "Excepting a few obscure studies and essays, no one has pursued this otherwise obvious avenue of research into both comics and Crumb. Those interested in comics studies would be well served to consider how Calonne is able to deftly blend an analysis of Crumb’s art style and his influences. Calonne does an excellent job of constructing and supporting his thesis: that Robert Crumb was deeply influenced by certain artists and ideas and that it is possible to see those ideas reflected in his comics. Calonne demonstrates how Crumb’s love for literature led him to attempt an extremely faithful rendering of the texts he admired while at the same time highlighting for his readers the particular hidden philosophical meanings he found most significant in his own autobiographical quest for identity and his authentic self. Dick, as well as Crumb’s illustrations of biographies of musicians Jelly Roll Morton and Charley Patton. Crumb: Literature, Autobiography, and the Quest for Self contains six chapters that chart Crumb’s intellectual trajectory and explore the recurring philosophical themes that permeate his depictions of literary and biographical works and the ways he responds to them through innovative, dazzling compositional techniques.Ĭalonne explores the ways Crumb develops concepts of solitude, despair, desire, and conflict as aspects of the quest for self in his engagement with the book of Genesis and works by Franz Kafka, Jean-Paul Sartre, the Beats, Charles Bukowski, and Philip K. Crumb’s genius, according to author David Stephen Calonne, lies in his ability to absorb a variety of literary, artistic, and spiritual traditions and incorporate them within an original, American mode of discourse that seeks to reveal his personal search for the meaning of life. Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg, as well as religious classics including biblical, Buddhist, Hindu, and Gnostic texts. 1943) read widely and deeply a long roster of authors including Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens, J.
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