From Creation to the death of Joseph, here are all 50 chapters of the Book of Genesis, revealingly illustrated as never before. Envisioning the first book of the bible like no one before him, R. Crumb, the legendary illustrator, reveals here the story of Genesis in a profoundly honest and deeply moving way. Originally thinking that we would do a take off of Adam and Eve, Crumb became so fascinated by the Bibleβs language, βa text so great and so strange that it lends itself readily to graphic depictions,β that he decided instead to do a literal interpretation using the text word for word in a version primarily assembled from the translations of Robert Alter and the King James bible.
Now, readers of every persuasionβCrumb fans, comic book lovers, and believersβcan gain astonishing new insights from these harrowing, tragic, and even juicy stories. Crumbβs Book of Genesis reintroduces us to the bountiful tree lined garden of Adam and Eve, the massive ark of Noah with beasts of every kind, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by brimstone and fire that rained from the heavens, and the Egypt of the Pharaoh, where Josephβs embalmed body is carried in a coffin, in a scene as elegiac as any in Genesis. Using clues from the text and peeling away the theological and scholarly interpretation that have often obscured the Bibleβs most dramatic stories, Crumb fleshes out a parade of Biblical originals: from the serpent in Eden, the humanoid reptile appearing like an alien out of a science fiction movie, to Jacob, a βkindβve depressed guy who doesnβt strike you as physically courageous,β and his bother, Esau, βa rough and kick ass guy,β to Abrahamβs wife Sarah, more fetching than most woman at 90, to God himself, βa standard Charlton Heston- like figure with long white hair and a flowing beard.β
As Crumb writes in his introduction, βthe stories of these people, the Hebrews, were something more than just stories. They were the foundation, the source, in writing of religious and political power, handed down by God himself.β Crumbβs Book of Genesis, the culmination of 5 years of painstaking work, is a tapestry of masterly detail and storytelling which celebrates the astonishing diversity of the one of our greatest artistic geniuses.
Media Buzz
Talk of the Nation - November 2, 2009 All Things Considered - October 19, 2009
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