Literary Lives

by Edward Sorel

Award-winning caricaturist Edward Sorel uses his distinctive style to illustrate the strange and eccentric lives of ten iconic literary figures. Literary Lives features the brief, unauthorized biographies of ten larger-than-life literary Tolstoy, Sartre, Eliot, Proust, Yeats, Brecht, Jung, Rand, Mailer, and Hellman. Amusing and sometimes hard to believe (but always absolutely true), Sorel's vignettes depict, among other sparkling moments, Proust investing in a male brothel so he can peep at its clientele through a keyhole; Rand launching a torrid affair with a protégé half her age; Hellman pleading the Fifth in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities; Yeats attending his first séance; Simone de Beauvoir supplying Sartre with her students for his pleasure; Jung cozying up with the Nazis; Norman Mailer's disastrous candidacy for Mayor of New York; and Tolstoy setting his peasants free (and they, in turn, refusing to be emancipated).

Genres: Biography, Anthologies, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, Comics

112 pages, Hardcover

First published April 4, 2006

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cool little book that caricaturizes some literary lives. I was shocked when reading about, say, Jung, Brecht, or Mailer. Even the lives of Yeats and Sartre weren’t safe. It seemed so raw, as if I was missing something crucial. Then I finished the book and read Doctorow’s introduction, and it all made sense:

“The reader will notice that the facts meant to characterize each writer-victim are meticulously extracted from the life without any mediating context that would soften their impact. This is equivalent to a prosecuting attorney’s suppression of any evidence that might let the defendant off the hook.”

Certainly that is the case. You get the worst of each personality presented here. I loved it.

[Melora · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

A wittily caustic picture book of ten mini-biographies, accompanied by breezy illustrations. Sorel has chosen authors, for the most part*, who fully deserve the skewering they receive here – awareness of their peculiarities, politics, and hypocrisies offers readers an added perspective on their work – and each piece reminds us that literary fame has fallen on some truly dreadful people.

The ten authors featured are Leo Tolstoy; Ayn Rand; Marcel Proust; W.B. Yeats; Lillian Hellman; Carl Jung; Jean-Paul Sartre; George Eliot; Bertolt Brecht; and Norman Mailer. George Eliot and Leo Tolstoy are authors whose work I love, and I treasure some of Yeats' poetry. I already knew about Eliot's and Tolstoy's weirdnesses, but Yeats' politics were new to me. Sorel does a nice job of adding plenty of “quirky” to leaven the bizarre and unpleasant aspects of his subjects: I particularly enjoyed the first page on Yeats, which, along with a wonderful illustration of the described scene, reads “William Butler Yeats, 22, an Irish poet who believes in the occult (he has seen fairies), attends his first séance. The experience so unhinges him that he begins beating his head on the table and reciting Milton.” The shocked faces of the other attendees and the marvelous incongruity of his response are just wonderful.

A quick, entertaining read.

*George Eliot and Leo Tolstoy are certainly not dreadful, though Tolstoy was certainly a dreadful husband. And I expect some of the others had redeeming qualities, but you won't learn about those here!

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is as hard to dislike this is book as it is to defend it. Sorel presents mini-biographies of 10 renowned writers who lived strange and sometimes despicable lives. There is little about their greatness because Sorel concentrates in their most reprehensible behavior. Aspects of each life are beautifully illustrated and clearly told, but the book is a hatefest of the talented unworthy. On the other hand, it is fun to read, hard to put down, and assuming if is accurate. I learned some new tawdry things about some well-known writers. It is difficult to be a peace with this book.

[Rowan McBride]

So... Learned some stuff about a few authors that I never learned in school. A bit scarred. Hopefully in a good way.

O.O

[Sonja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative. I haven't read any books by any of the literary people satirised in this book, and after reading this I probably won't

[Arielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a little difficult to take seriously. It's good in that it's a quick introduction into the lives of some literary giants. It's a gateway book to larger biographies and such, but not much positive is revealed about them. It's a speedy takedown piece with adultery, murder, and anger problems--complete with speedy drawings to drive home the poor behavior. Some positivity sprinkled here and there would have been nice. A quick quick read.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Within each of these genius writers, there exists a huge asshole. These brief biographies (about 8 panels each) are as funny as they are informative. Incredibly quick read. Easy to finish in 15 minutes.

[Sidik Fofana · Rating 4 out of 5]

SIX WORD REVIEW: Lesson: writers are crazy, egocentric, sexaholics.

[Passive Apathetic · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love my critics/cartoonists grumpy, intentionally ill-intentioned towards literary men and determined to be unsatisfied with geniuses. Therefore this book was a great fun to look at and read.

[D. Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literary Lives is an irreverent book of cartoons skewering literary icons. My only complaint is that it is far too short; I would have preferred it were ten time longer.

[Blue Cypress Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lord, that was depressing.

[John of Canada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old school literary TMZ.