The Book of Genesis (comics)
Encyclopedia
The Book of Genesis is a best-sellingcomic book
illustrated by cartoonist
and comic book
artist Robert Crumb
that purports to be a faithful, literal illustration of the Book of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible
. It reached #1 the New York Times graphic novel
bestseller list and on the Christian
books list at Amazon.com
.
Given Crumb's past body of work, and his professed rejection of religion, many assumed when the book was announced that it would be a satire or otherwise profane or subversive send-up, and were surprised or disappointed to find it "straight-faced". Crumb "resist[ed] the temptation to go all-out Crumb on us and exaggerate the sordidness, the primitivism and the outright strangeness" found in the Biblethe depictions of sex are explicit, but not gratuitous. In his introduction to the book, Crumb writes he has "faithfully reproduced every word of the original text," each word hand-lettered. The book's cover contains the warning, "Adult Supervision Recommended for Minors".
The book has been controversial, particularly for the explicit illustrations of scenes of sexual intercourse
described in the text itself. In critical circles, it has drawn fire over whether and how literal the illustration job is, or should be.
(where he and his family live), his wife Aline
would bring him baskets of food.
drawing style, Crumb avoided doing a satirical or psychedelic take on the work, as would have been expected. Reviewers have called the style "humanizing", with a "human-looking deity" with "enormous, hairy, veiny hands"; unlike much later Christian art, which Europeanized the characters from the Old
and New Testament
s, the characters in Crumb's book are "plac[ed...]squarely in the Middle East — and populat[ed...]with distinctly Semitic-looking people".
The clothing and sets in the book were based on stills from classic Hollywood
movies, as "there's not a lot of documentation about how people dressed and lived in ancient Mesopotamia."
Many reviewers found it surprising that Crumb kept the depictions of sex "tame", given that he is so well-known for his explicit depictions of sex.
The publisher originally wanted title the book The Book of Genesis According to Robert Crumb, but Crumb insisted on changing "According to" to "Illustrated by".
, and thus is familiar with the more common Bible stories, but gave up the Catholic faith when he was 16. He went through a phase when he was 15 where he "[went] to church a lot, receiving communion
, saying the Rosary
, praying
", but when he started to scrutinize it, "it just fell apart so quickly."
Crumb says he is spiritualand gnostic
, and not an atheist
; he is "interested in pursuing and understanding the spiritual nature of things." He believes there is a God
, but "I don't believe [The Book of Genesis is] the Word of God. I believe it's the words of men". He occasionally refers to the book of Ecclesiastes
for spiritual guidance, but finds Genesis to be "much too primitive" to find any spiritual meaning in it.
's translation of the Book of Genesis from 1996, although he referred to many other sources, including the King James Version of the Bible
. In one passage, Crumb used the "term 'handmaid
', derived from the King James, to describe the young woman whom Sarai
offers up to sleep with her husband, Abram, after Sarai is unable to conceive, rather than Alter’s term, 'slave girl', which evokes the woman’s subservient status."
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
illustrated by cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
and comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
artist Robert Crumb
Robert Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded...
that purports to be a faithful, literal illustration of the Book of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
. It reached #1 the New York Times graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
bestseller list and on the Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
books list at Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
.
Given Crumb's past body of work, and his professed rejection of religion, many assumed when the book was announced that it would be a satire or otherwise profane or subversive send-up, and were surprised or disappointed to find it "straight-faced". Crumb "resist[ed] the temptation to go all-out Crumb on us and exaggerate the sordidness, the primitivism and the outright strangeness" found in the Biblethe depictions of sex are explicit, but not gratuitous. In his introduction to the book, Crumb writes he has "faithfully reproduced every word of the original text," each word hand-lettered. The book's cover contains the warning, "Adult Supervision Recommended for Minors".
The book has been controversial, particularly for the explicit illustrations of scenes of sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
described in the text itself. In critical circles, it has drawn fire over whether and how literal the illustration job is, or should be.
Overview
The book took over four years for Crumb to finish. Holed up in a shepherd's hut in the south of FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(where he and his family live), his wife Aline
Aline Kominsky-Crumb
Aline Kominsky-Crumb is an American underground comics artist best known as the wife of cartoonist R. Crumb....
would bring him baskets of food.
Drawing
Drawn in his signature scratchy, obsessively crosshatchedHatching
Hatching is an artistic technique used to create tonal or shading effects by drawing closely spaced parallel lines...
drawing style, Crumb avoided doing a satirical or psychedelic take on the work, as would have been expected. Reviewers have called the style "humanizing", with a "human-looking deity" with "enormous, hairy, veiny hands"; unlike much later Christian art, which Europeanized the characters from the Old
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
and New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
s, the characters in Crumb's book are "plac[ed...]squarely in the Middle East — and populat[ed...]with distinctly Semitic-looking people".
The clothing and sets in the book were based on stills from classic Hollywood
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
movies, as "there's not a lot of documentation about how people dressed and lived in ancient Mesopotamia."
Tone
Crumb says he'd originally intended to do a send up of The Book of Genesis, but "I fooled around in the sketchbooks with those ideas and I just, I didn't like how it was working out so I just decided to do a straight illustration job of it. It seemed to me that the original text was so strange in its own way that there was no need to do any sendup or satire of it. My trial efforts to do that seemed lame, it wasn't working out."Many reviewers found it surprising that Crumb kept the depictions of sex "tame", given that he is so well-known for his explicit depictions of sex.
Publication history
The book was published by W. W. Norton & Company on October 19th, 2009, in book formthe book was never serialized prior to being published.The publisher originally wanted title the book The Book of Genesis According to Robert Crumb, but Crumb insisted on changing "According to" to "Illustrated by".
Crumb's Beliefs
Crumb was brought up CatholicCatholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
, and thus is familiar with the more common Bible stories, but gave up the Catholic faith when he was 16. He went through a phase when he was 15 where he "[went] to church a lot, receiving communion
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
, saying the Rosary
Rosary
The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...
, praying
Prayer in Christianity
Prayer has been an essential part of Christianity since its earliest days. Prayer is an integral element of the Christian faith and permeates all forms of Christian worship...
", but when he started to scrutinize it, "it just fell apart so quickly."
Crumb says he is spiritualand gnostic
Gnosticism
Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
, and not an atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
; he is "interested in pursuing and understanding the spiritual nature of things." He believes there is a God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, but "I don't believe [The Book of Genesis is] the Word of God. I believe it's the words of men". He occasionally refers to the book of Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes
The Book of Ecclesiastes, called , is a book of the Hebrew Bible. The English name derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew title.The main speaker in the book, identified by the name or title Qoheleth , introduces himself as "son of David, king in Jerusalem." The work consists of personal...
for spiritual guidance, but finds Genesis to be "much too primitive" to find any spiritual meaning in it.
Sources
Crumb's main source was Robert AlterRobert Alter
Robert Bernard Alter is an American professor of Hebrew language and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967.-Biography:...
's translation of the Book of Genesis from 1996, although he referred to many other sources, including the King James Version of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. In one passage, Crumb used the "term 'handmaid
Handmaiden
A handmaiden is a female attendant, assistant, domestic worker , or slave.-Religion:Norse goddesses had handmaidens, . The biblical Mary referred to herself as "the handmaid of the Lord" in acceptance of becoming pregnant by the Holy Ghost.A man might use a handmaiden as a concubine to bear his...
', derived from the King James, to describe the young woman whom Sarai
Sarah
Sarah or Sara was the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. Her name was originally Sarai...
offers up to sleep with her husband, Abram, after Sarai is unable to conceive, rather than Alter’s term, 'slave girl', which evokes the woman’s subservient status."
Awards
| Year | Organisation | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Harvey Award Harvey Award The Harvey Awards, named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman and founded by Gary Groth, President of the publisher Fantagraphics, are given for achievement in comic books. The Harveys were created as part of a successor to the Kirby Awards which were discontinued after 1987.The Harvey Awards are... s |
Best Artist | |
| Best Original Graphic Album | |||
| Eisner Award Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the... s |
Best Adaptation from Another Work | ||
| Best Graphic AlbumNew | |||
| Best Writer/Artist |
See also
- Chester Brown's Gospel adaptationsChester Brown's Gospel adaptationsChester Brown's "eccentric adaptations" of some of the Gospels appeared in his comic books Yummy Fur and Underwater starting with the Gospel of Mark in Yummy Fur #4 in 1987....
External links
- Product page at W. W. Norton & Company