Archive for October, 2006
Special notice! Mature audience Novel
It seems that Aurelia Aurita is a moon Jellyfish. It is also the name chosen by a young French graphic novel author of Chinese and Cambodian origins.
Born in Paris suburb in 1980, Aurelia Aurita is both a doctor in Pharmacy and a graphic novelist.
In 2004, she went to Japan to collaborate at a collective comic book and felt in love… She stayed in Tokyo where she wrote in 2005 her popular erotic, some critics would say pornographic, graphic novel « Fraise et Chocolat », Strawberry and Chocolate. It is not yet translated in English as far as I know.
October 10th, 2006
I think it pretty much starts there. Most of the titles, you will find on this blog will definitely come from my bookshelves or from the bookshelves of friends and are about the graphic novels, comic books or Manga I value the most.
What do I value then so much, because they contribute to show that graphic stories are definitely a major on-going way of expression around the world.
From the masterpiece Akira of Katsuhiro Otomo to the more confidential but demented Jet Lag of Etgar Keret, all the selected titles are great invitations to travel and to find something you didn’t expect in first place.
The graphic dimension brings definitely something different to these books compare to the more «classic» ones, in the way you get into an author universe according to me. I didn’t say better just different.
So hope you will enjoy the critics and also the readings !
October 5th, 2006
A contemporary graphic novelist and author, Marjane Satrapi was born in 1969 in Iran, grew up in Tehran and witness during his childhood a particularly strong shift in The Iranian Regime, with the fall of the Shah, the rising of the Islamic Revolution of the Ayatollahs, and the Iran/ Iraq war.
She now lives in Paris where she both works on Graphic novels and children books.
She met a great worldwide success and got famous for her extra-ordinary autobiographic comic book series, Persepolis.
October 10th, 2006
Author: Marjane Satrapi
Publisher: L’Association (FR), Phantheon (US)
Translation Copyright: © 2003 L’Association, Paris, France
In 1979, when the Islamic Revolution started In Iran, Marjane Satrapi was only a child. Through the eyes of this cute little girl, we happen to see the daily life in Iran during this tense period, but also to know more about the history of the first country that refers to sharia in his constitution.
The life is hard and sometimes even tragic for Marjane, her parents and her family, but it is not a world without humor and hopes.
I often recommand this reading to friends that are not too familiar with Graphic novels. I found in Persepolis what comic books can best offer: an intensity, a capacity to express very complex situations and feelings in an extremely simple way.
October 10th, 2006
Author : Aurelia Aurita
Publisher : Les Impressions Nouvelles (FR, BE)
Copyright: © 2006 Les Impressions nouvelles
Note: Special notice ! Novel for mature audience only.
Literal translation: Strawberry & Chocolate
Additional Information: Not currently available in English.
Fraise & chocolat is definitely a story about a real love and passion. Aurelia arrived in Japan to see Frederic, they met once in Paris but they wrote each other for the last 4 months. That is the starting point of the travel in the intimacy of two people where the exploration of physical love have a large part. The narration is very fresh and I got the feeling sometimes that the heart of Aurelia is to big and will explode if she can’t share her experience.
I don’t know if Fraise & Chocolat can be distributed on US market, it will be most likely consider as pornography. In my mind, this graphic novel is closer to the work made by the photograph Nan Goldin when she shot pictures of couples in their intimacy, I saw these series of pictures some years ago in an exhibition and I keep thinking that is what happiness looks like to me.
October 12th, 2006
Born in Tel Aviv in 1967, Etgar Keret is definitely one of the most talent writers of the new generation in Israel and probably in the World. Among his publication, the internationally acclaim novels book « The bus driver who wanted to be god & other stories » is a must-have read.
Etgar Keret also collaborates to several comic books, wrote plays and directed at least two films.
His works are a source of inspiration for numerous movie directors, over 40 short movies have been based on his stories.
The picture on the right is very representative of Etgar Keret and appears on different covers of his books.
October 12th, 2006
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