Arsène Schrauwen
Arsène Schrauwen
Arsène Schrauwen
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Description
Description
In 1947, the author's grandfather, Arsène Schrauwen, traveled across the ocean to a mysterious, dangerous jungle colony at the behest of his cousin. Together they would build something deemed impossible: a modern utopia in the wilderness -- but not before Arsène falls in love with his cousin's wife, Marieke. Whether delirious from love or a fever-inducing jungle virus, Arsène's loosening grip on reality is mirrored by the graphic novel reader's uncertainty of what is imagined or real by Arsène. This first full-length graphic novel from the critically acclaimed Olivier Schrauwen is an engrossing, sometimes funny, slightly surreal and often beautiful narrative.
Originally released in 2014, Arsène Schrauwen heralded the then largely-unknown-to-English readers Olivier Schrauwen as a major voice in international comics -- a reputation that has only gained momentum over the ensuing decade with releases like 2024's Sunday.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
The book is flat-out one of the most complex and interesting--visually, thematically, conceptually--comics of the last few years.... The Belgian cartoonist is the embodiment of the idea that cartooning is writing with pictures, and with Arsène he proves himself a better writer than basically everyone else working today.-- "Paste"
This is a book of imagination and tale-telling.-- "American Book Review"
While reading this graphic novel, I kept thinking, 'I can't believe how smart Oliver Schrauwen is.' Every page reveals an eccentric and original cartooning mind at work. ... Taken together, [his] artistic choices make for an oddly moving way to tell an uncanny story, an epic surrealist adventure in architectural modernity, European colonialism, social idealism, and sexual perversion.-- "The Comics Journal"
In this crackpot graphic novel from the historically minded and utterly original Schrauwen, the Belgian cartoonist imagines a fanciful history that slips the bonds of reality almost immediately. ... The author's obsessions with infestation, death, mutation, and genitalia, scroll in a continuous waking dream set amid a Magritte-Dali landscape.-- "Publishers Weekly Starred Review"
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Fantagraphics Books
Pub date:
2025-05-20
Length:
256 pages
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