Okay, don’t everyone kill yourself at once!
Seth, cartoonist of the long lost and forlorn, has designed and illustrated a new editions of Chekhov’s ABOUT LOVE, three linked tales of abortive attempts at happiness, The Moscow Times tells us:
Chekhov is one of Seth’s favorite writers, because of the sympathetic and yet obtuse nature of his work, Seth said. “I remember I even began a sketchbook comic adaptation of The Cherry Orchard, Chekhov’s last play, back in my late 20s.”
In “About Love,” Seth created artwork for each of the characters and included a series of double page landscape spreads. In the beginning of the novel, his long sequence of drawings leads the reader from the village to the country, like the title sequence in a film. “I didn’t want to overdo the amount of drawing in the book and risk interfering with the story itself,” he said. The images are more decorative than illustrative.
Seth is the Canadian author of It’s a Good Life if You Don’t Weaken and Wimbledon Green. A new issue of Palookaville, continuing his long saga of the Clyde Fans company, will be out this month.
Anton Chekhov is one of the great short stories writers of history. His famed play The Cherry Orchard features his signature theme of loss, decay and futility.
You can “look inside” this book on Amazon, and Seth’s illos are actually quite jolly.
I’m adapting Joyce now, but my first serious foray into the idea of comics breathing new life to novels was THE SEAGULL. Even then, making storyboards to prove my point, Seth’s approach to stillness and separateness seen in CLYDE FANS was a big example of how things might work.
Yeah, Seth on Chekov? Sign me up. It’s as obvious as Chris Ware on Sartre or Dan Clowes on the diaries of Emma Goldman. Somethings just fit really, really well and I’m glad to see more chances for cartoonists to work the so-called-serious literature that defines them.
I’d definitely read this.
Scott
http://www.ReconditePictures.com
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