Your Vigor for Life Appalls Me: The R. Crumb Letters 1958-1977

by Robert Crumb

A unique insight into one of the most celebrated artistic minds of the 20th Century, this collection of 50 letters spans the years 1958-1977, during the course of which a pensive high-school reject emerged into the limelight as American's most celebrated and controversial countercultural cartoonist. Featuring many fascimiles of Crumb's actual handwritten letters, including many never-before-seen sketches that frequently accompanied Crumb's letters.

Genres: Nonfiction, Comics, Memoir, Comix, Biography

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 17, 1998

About the author

Robert Dennis Crumb (born August 30, 1943)— 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 as its most prominent figure. Though one of the most celebrated of comic book artists, Crumb's entire career has unfolded outside the mainstream comic book publishing industry. One of his most recognized works is the "Keep on Truckin'" comic, which became a widely distributed fixture of pop culture in the 1970s. Others are the characters "Devil Girl", "Fritz the Cat", and "Mr. Natural".

He was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1991.

Reviews

[Lizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a confusing little collection. Who decided it was a good idea to collect and publish all of 15-yr-old R. Crumb's letters without 90% of the artwork they supposedly included? The break-down of each letter is as follows: 70% meticulous, catatonia-inducing lists of records and Disney comic book titles; 20% teen angst; 6% untraceable but facinating-sounding references to long-lost artists/events/conversations/etc; 2% art; and 2% honest-to-god philosophical gems that made slogging through the rest worth it. And the most interesting/heartbreaking part: lots of cryptic info about older brother Charles, who some said was the more brilliant artist and who, we know from the documentary, committed suicide as an adult. Reading this kind of made me wish that there was a publishing company whose only product was portfolios of "all the 2-dimensional things that were found in the desk drawers of a teenager selected at random from a midsize American city." Don't worry; this is not a wish that I have made in earnest (i.e. no stars or 11:11 sightings were employed).

Anyway, if I could do it all again, I would read this at a leisurely pace with a volume of Crumb's collected sketches at the ready, and then I would watch the Crumb documentary afterwards just to wrap it all up.

Also, great title, no?

[John “Hoss” · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read. Brings an insight into Crumb that some might not be aware of. Includes some earlier drawings and doodles from Crumb (most have been reprinted several times before). Some letters took longer to get through and if it was possible it would've been interesting to have the response letters from his friends Britt or Marty (I know this would've been a hard if not daunting task). Overall this was a good read and I feel I got something out of reading it.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

we generally read letters to learn about their writers, this means that often what we as readers might think of as a good letter writer could be a poor personal correspondent if they ignore you and your own interests. as such crumb writes here interfandom letters which were presumably of intense fascination to his original audience and could bore modern readers to tears. to the teenage crumb the details of his life about which we might most like to learn (particularly his family dynamics in my case) are so workaday they're not worth mentioning until he moves out and gets a little perspective that his family are all absolute fucking basket cases.
easy enough to let my eyes glaze over the endless lists to get to the good stuff, and make me all the more appreciative how easy it is to get hold of pretty much anything i might be interested in these days

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Crumb and am fascinated with him and I enjoyed these letters with this caveat. The letters start when he's 16 and in the lion's share of the book he's under 20. So you get a lot about comic book collecting and record collecting (not uninteresting per se). Then there's is a sudden shift and suddenly he goes from 20 to married and hugely successful. It's a jolt and there are no footnotes to explain why. The successful Crumb, the artist you know and love, is only in the last 20 pages or so. I wanted to read more about Janis Joplin (one mention) and the movies.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a huge fan of Robert Crumb as such, but I do have an interest in alternative/underground comics and any artist involved in underground comics will cite Crumb as an influence. He is, without doubt, one of the most influential figures in the genre and this collection of letters and sketches is a fascinating view of his journey from geeky teenager to fully fledged mover and shaker in the counter culture of the 60's and 70's.

[Helen Damnation · Rating 3 out of 5]

So on one hand, the early start point of this book made me incredibly glad that by the time my own geeky teenage began everything had made it's way to the internet. It also serves as an interesting little history lesson in how mid-century fandom worked. On the other hand, unfortunately, the truth is that fandom from the outside is always pretty boring; lists and lists and requests and attempts at asserting your own superior knowledge.

By the mid part of the collection we are learning more about Crumb and who he is as he starts to be a person It's a bit of a slog to get there, but the letters become more enjoyable (even though I hated the little cartoons that decorate his early handwritten letters, once he aquired a typewriter I did miss them, especially as there are so many references made to art included in the letters that is not included in the book) as he begins to talk about his inner life and questions more, and then as he finally starts to actually get an outer life.

There's no doubt that the book would have been more of an enjoyable read if it had focussed less on the earlier years (or there had been a wider pool of correspondants - this book is comprised entirely of letters to Mike Britt and Marty Pahls though there are references to letters from others in fandom and also his brothers), but naturally, this seesm to have been when he was most prolific. Unhappily for the reader, as he becomes more interesting, he seems to have become less interested in letter writing.

[Joseph Hirsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

These letters from Robert Crumb to his friend and confidant Marty Pahls are a solid picture of the genius as a young man. The comic book artist Robert Crumb shares his views on everything from women to politics in letters that, while obviously penned by someone who has yet to fully mature, still show a considerable wit and insight. Most of the reviews of the book stress that this work is for Crumb completists only. I have to disagree, if only because the book serves as a treat for anyone who believes the epistolary form is a lost art. You wouldn't have to know who R. Crumb is to dig this correspondence (in my view), and while I've read about half of the "Complete Crumb" series (and count the Zwigoff film as among the best documentaries ever made), I wouldn't classify myself as a completist. But I still enjoyed the book. Recommended.

[matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

buyer beware! Now I'd be just as interested into uncovering the direct influences that turned Crumb into the lecherous miscreant we known him as today but these letters are too probing for my taste. A LARGE majority of these letters focus around his high-school correspondence which basically mulls over the merits of EC comics and how many Disney back issues his brother has attained. His early sketches offer little insight to what he would late become, as is the case with most artists' output between the ages of 16-20. Except for you, Conor Oberst. Fuck that guy. Anyway, there's plenty of entertaining and contemporary Crumb material in the world making it unnecessary to waste time on this detour into the past.

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to read everybody's letters, but Crumb here is mostly asking correspondants if they've read, or can procure for him, various comic books, and you can find that on any old geek's blog. It's the bitter little glimpses he allows of his day-to-day outsider existence and family issues that supply what entertainment there is to be found.

Unless you're an incurable snoop like me, stick with the comics.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe the subtitle is a bit of a tease, as it would be more accurate to say "R. Crumb Letters to Mike Britt and Marty Pahls 1958-1964 with little subsiding sputterings to Britt in the 70s". Interesting to see the one letter reproduced in facsimile because it really looks like a less-well-drawn version of his 80s+ diary-style strips -- if only the rest of the set could have been done this way! For obsessives only but I'm one I reckon.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great title, and interesting to see how Crumb's voice and persona were seemingly so completely formed at such a young age. And of course some of the historical details are interesting, but reading one side of a correspondence makes for kind of a tedious read.

[Ryan]

just shot to the top of my must read list

[Harry]

Definitely on a par with VanGogh's letters to Theo.

[Dantanian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not here to be polite!

[Misti Rainwater-Lites · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not finish this one, tossed to the side of my bed. Crumb sure wrote a lot of letters!

[Penekwe · Rating 2 out of 5]

at times a difficult read - he wasn't very likable in the end - wouldn't recommend it

[Matt Champagne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much information, but still found it interesting. I'll be honest: I picked up this book because I love the title.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's some interesting stuff in here, but not enough to make an entire book. I love Crumb's work, but this book is definitely for Crumb super-fans instead of casual fans.

[Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly boring. The rating is a result of my personal love for R. Crumb's voice in candid.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's just ephemeralia really. Some comics nerds out there no doubt appreciate things like this, but when you think about it, the cult of R. Crumb is kind of overblown. I mean, how many cartoonists have their letters published in standalone volumes like they were important authors? Fantagraphics Books strives to publish comics that its editors feel have "literary value", but this is way overreaching in my opinion.

Still, it could just be a comics nerd indulgence. There could be publications of Frank Frazzetta's correspondence out there somewhere (not that I know Frazzetta to have been much of a man of words, as opposed to just pictures).

I'm really not sure if someone with the reputation Crumb has for producing sometimes objectionable, but not really overreaching material, or who seems to regard himself as seriously as a lot of his fans, really merits this kind of publication, and that it's not just another attempt for this reputable independent publisher to squeeze a few more dimes out of the die-hard obsessives & collectors. But at least in the early years, he wasn't that bad of a guy. That part of his life is kind of interesting, even if his adolescence (which this book includes letters from) is marked by really pronounced awkwardness.