|
' is a wordless novel by American artist Lynd Ward (1905–1985) first published in 1929. In 139 captionless woodblock prints it tells the Faustian story of an artist who signs away his soul for a magic paintbrush. was the first American wordless novel, and is seen as a precursor of, and influence on, the development of the graphic novel. Ward first read a wordless novel, Frans Masereel's ''The Sun'' (1919), while studying art in Germany in 1926. After returning to the United States in 1927, he established a career for himself as an illustrator. He found Otto Nückel's wordless novel ''Destiny'' (1926) in New York City in 1929, and was inspired to create a wordless novel of his own. appeared a week before the Wall Street Crash of 1929; sales nevertheless were strong, and the book remains the best-selling American wordless novel. Its success inspired other Americans to experiment with the medium, including cartoonist Milt Gross, who parodied in ''He Done Her Wrong'' (1930). In the 1970s, Ward's example inspired cartoonists Art Spiegelman and Will Eisner to create their first graphic novels. ==Content== The wordless novel is a silent narrative made up of prints of 139 engraved woodblocks. Each image moves the story forward by an interval Ward chooses to maintain story flow. Ward wrote in ''Storyteller Without Words'' (1974) that too great an interval would put too much interpretational burden on the reader, while too little would make the story tedious. Wordless novel historian David A. Beronä likens these concerns with the storytelling methods of comics. The artwork is executed in black and white; the images vary in size and dimension, up to , the size of the opening and closing images of each chapter. Ward uses symbolic contrast of dark and light to emphasize the corruption of the city, where even in daylight the buildings darken the skies; in the countryside, the scenes are bathed in natural light. Ward exaggerates facial expression to convey emotion without resorting to words. Composition also conveys emotion: in the midst of his fame, an image has the artist framed by raised wineglasses; the faces of those holding the glasses are not depicted, highlighting the isolation the artist feels. The story parallels the Faust theme, and the artwork and execution show the influence of film, in particular those of German studio Ufa. The placement of the apostrophe in the title implies a plurality of gods, rather than Christianity's monotheistic God. It alludes to a line from the play ''Bacchides'' by ancient Roman playwright Plautus: "He whom the gods favor, dies young." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gods' Man」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|