Seymour Chwast

Two hundred years in the future, Arno leads a highly regimented, computer-controlled life. Residing in one of 5,183 family units in the Happy Family Complex Number 88, everything from his breakfast to his robot-dog was carefully controlled. His MiniMachine, which sat next to his bed while sleeping, and was then affixed to his clothing during the day, gave him constant instructions on what to do next. But then one day, while on a field trip to the Historical Museum, Arno encounters something show more quite unexpected: a live bird. This avian friend manages to turn Arno's life upside down, and to convince him to ignore his MiniMachine...

Well-known as one of the founders, together with Milton Glaser, Edward Sorel and Reynold Ruffins, of the famous Push Pin Studios design firm, Seymour Chwast is an illustrator with a strong, bold, graphic style of artwork. His classic 70s picture-book, The Pancake King, was reprinted a few years ago (in 2016), but Arno and the MiniMachine is the first of his more recent picture-books that I have picked up. It has a strong message about the potential dangers of technology, and the importance of nature for leading a full life. The story makes for entertaining science fiction for the picture-book, and the artwork (as could be expected) is colorful and attention-grabbing, with a striking style that is very appealing, and which is well-suited to the story. Recommended to Chwast fans, and to anyone seeking children's stories about unplugging from our devices. show less

Written after witnessing the horrors reported back from the American invasion of the Philippines, this is Twain's most overtly anti-imperialist work. He considered it so incendiary to the establishment that was too afraid to publish it during his lifetime. It's been re-published in many forms, but this new edition with illustrations by Seymour Chwast is an attractive one, capturing the heart and feeling of Twain's poem. I doubt people today will heed its message anymore, especially those who show more froth at the mouth about patriotism, when what they really want is to egg on mass slaughter. show less

Seymour Chwast is at it again with the Canterbury Tales, adapting another classic to his signature graphic novel style. He also did Dante’s Divine Comedy a couple of years ago and this one continues the “tradition”. While maybe not enough to help you pass a college level test on Chaucer, this might be enough for you to squeak by in high school English if you were lucky enough to have to read a little Chaucer. In any event, you’ll be much more entertained than you would be reading show more Cliff Notes.

Of course, I am not encouraging anyone out there to skip the real deal. You should definitely read your Chaucer people! But Seymour gives you the gist of some of the tales in his trademark fashion here, skipping over some of the long rambling descriptions and getting to the meat of the narrative. I love how he has some of the characters popping up in the page margins (aka “the peanut gallery”) heckling the narrator to get a move on. In the knight’s tale, where Chaucer spends a good six pages of verse describing the amphitheatre that Theseus builds for the tournament for Emelye’s hand, Chwast has a character lean over the frame with the illustration of the amphitheatre and temple to tell the knight:

“Hey, all this is slowing down the story. Get on with it!”

For the Miller’s Prologue and tale, we have Chaucer himself stepping into the margin to warn us that “Readers should be eighteen or older.” Then, as we are winding down and getting into the Doctor’s tale involving the beautiful maid Virginia, we have the Friar heckling the author for “any tales about an ugly woman?”

And we have Chwast breaking down Chaucer’s notes to wives at the end of the Clerk’s tale. Where Chaucer says:

Superwives, stand up in your own defence!
Each is as huge and strong as a camel.
Then why permit a man to give offence?
You smaller wives, though feeble in battle,
Be fiercer than a tiger or a fiend,
Clack on and on like windmills, I counsel.

Chwast summarizes it and tells wives to:

Show off your figure, make your husband jealous, and confront him even if he’s in full armor!

All in all, this is an entertaining and quick graphic jaunt through the tales. For me, it was good that I had read them in their entirety but I suppose if you just want a quick study this could be it. Or maybe if you are thoroughly entertained by Chwast’s irreverent take, it will put you on the path to reading the real Chaucer. I’m looking forward to whatever classic he decides to tackle next! show less

This seems like a great idea, but unfortunately, it's just a Cliff's Notes summary of the Divine Comedy. So much of what makes the Divine Comedy amazing is the beauty of the poetry, the depth of the symbolism, and the complexity of meaning. Chwast's graphic rendering is clever and fun, but all it does is summarize, in very broad terms, the main events of the story. I was hoping that the graphics would contribute some sort of interpretation, in a "picture=1,000 words" kind of way, but show more Chwast's simple line drawings, while delightful, don't really contribute anything to the Dante tradition, nor do they even hint at the complexity of Dante's story.

If you're reading the Divine Comedy, and want a nice visual summary of what's happening, Chwast's interpretation will certainly serve that purpose. If you want some sort of grasp of why Dante's work is considered to be one of the best works of literature ever written, or of the depth of meaning embedded in the story, skip this one. show less