The Salon, City of Glass and Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Essay Example

Here 15 February A Comparison of Graphic Novels: The Salon, of Glass and Boulevard of Broken Dreams Graphic novels have slowly wound their way into modern literature as a pure form of art. They have become a very inherent part of modern culture in almost every country in the world. Graphic novels are mainly written in a narrative format with a view to convey the idea or story to the reader with the help of images made in the form of comic art. However, what sets them apart from everyday comic strips is that graphic novels use a higher form of art which is more chronological and sequential in nature unlike comic strips. Graphic novels depict a variety of issues pertaining to society and may not just be based on humor. Many graphic novels have even achieved a cult status as they have their own fan base or following. Many contain superheroes that have imaginary super powers and save the world. These novels thus give an excellent chance to the writer to be creative in both ways; in terms of writing as well as drawing. For the purpose of this essay, three very renowned graphic novels have been chosen to work with, namely, ‘City of Glass: The Graphic Novel’ by Paul Auster, ‘The Salon’ by Nick Bertozzi and ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ by Kim Deitch. All three novels chosen here depict very unusual characters; the one thing common with all three is that they are based on certain protagonists however all three are different in the same aspect as City of Glass follows a detective and The Salon is based on fictitious painters whereas The Boulevard of Broken Dreams is a graphic novel about the life and times of an imaginary cat and a young boy. One commonality between the works of Bertozzi and Deitch is that they have both produced fictional characters with their imagination and given them a very different spin; for example the use of Waldo for the cat for the purpose of an animation studio just like Disney and the use of painters having the same names as Picasso, Biraque and Stein. Thus the two novelists have made use of prominent personalities in society by turning them into works of fiction and art. All the three graphic novels also contain a number of volumes and have not been written alone. They have prequels or sequels to complete them, although they can be read separately as well. Bertozzi’s novels is basically about a number of painters from the city of Paris, practising a very avant garde style of art and are confidently trying to weave their way through life with the help of wit and charm. The painters are based on the lives of Picasso, Braque, Gertrude and Stein and all the four have been given very distinct personalities. The best part about their reflection has been the way they have been portrayed through images and not only through the narrative, which gives the reader a very graphic image indeed of the kind of lives they lived. This novel follows a very amusing and light story line for any kind of a reader; however has a lot of deep thought attached to it as well on the underside. Bertozzi gives out a lot of information based on history in a very interesting manner, making his characters become almost life like in terms of interaction with the reader. His very certain and articulate sleight of hand helps him play around with the murder mystery that he has created within the novel, while giving it an twist that could be called pure amusement as well as a thriller at the same time. On the other hand however, the work of Auster is a very dramatic novel full of dark emotion. This book is not really meant for all kinds of readers because of the heavy thought put into it. It follows the life of Daniel Quinn, a man who has been trying to dodge and escape from the entire trauma that has been brought into his life due to the death of his wife and son. The main thing that sets this book apart and gives it the edge is the play on the name Auster itself which makes the reader find the usage of word play a little tricky and interesting to comprehend. The characters in this novel undergo a great amount of confusion as they are not able to either meet each other or understand their relation with one another. When compared with The Salon, many find that the latter is a better read because of the easy way that it has been portrayed in. The use of images in Auster’s works are also very dark, making the novel have a separate fan following for itself on the whole. The use of images in Auster’s novel depicts a great amount of emotion unlike in the novel of Bertozzi. Feelings like grief, sadness and anxiety have been portrayed wonderfully here whereas mixed feelings of joy and excitement have been shown in the former’s works. In Auster’s novel a more dark and dreary sort of use of imagery has been reflected. Both books are based on mysteries, nonetheless. However, Auster’s is darker because it shows the psychological side of a thriller more than anything else and has been acclaimed as a masterpiece as many critics have pointed out the kind of excellent performance given by the author through his work of words and art at the same time. Bertozzi’s novel proves to be a very good and exciting read too as it tries to unravel a murder mystery taking place in the midst of what readers might find to be either real or a work of fiction altogether. Moreover, the kind of aesthetic performance delivered by the novelist on this book has also put him at par with the word genius. Critics say that he has worked with a lot of light and color in his novel, humbly delivering a work of brilliance. As one moves on to The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, one finds that the novel can too be put on a high shelf in terms of the kind of work that has been shown through it. Deitch’s previous works have not been as exciting to read for most people as this novel, mainly because of the use of animation in order to depict equally complicated human emotions. This book finds a similarity with The Salon as the themes the both are based on are the same; they are light hearted and fun to read. Many people have found the work of Deitch to be very grotesque and complex at first. However, as one moves on through his graphics novel, one finds that the story line has a very rich study and thought given to it in the sense that every piece of writing or narrative within it has a number of multiple layers with a depiction of Walt Disney in the middle as well. This novel helps the reader to understand human relationships with the help of the relationship between the Mishkin boy and his imaginary cat, Waldo and the kind of friendship the two shared with each other. Thus, it moves on from a dark to a light read however even then, most readers have complained of the kind of art that has been portrayed in the novel. As compared to the other two novels written about in the paper, Deitch’s art work has not received much appreciation from a large group of readers. The main thing about the work of Deitch is the kind of hallucination that has been shown in the form of Waldo’s character and there are traces and hints of vaudeville cinematography in the novel as well. While making a comparison between the three novels, it was found that all three were extremely intricate in their making; a lot of deep analysis and thought had gone behind not only their plot and story lines, but also their art work. Auster’s works are different in contrast to the work of Bertozzi and Deitch as it is much darker as compared to the two that have shown an equally complex relation of characters but with the help of easy substance. All three novels follow the strange and mysterious lives of different characters with excellently given text-image relationships however Auster’s work falls apart a little where this is concerned as a number of readers do not find comfort while reading and relating to his works. Also, Bertozzi was accused of depicting nudity in his art work and presenting it to minors; more specifically speaking, an image of Picasso in his novel was shown as a naked man and a case was charged against the author for giving away a promotional of the novel to a minor that showed Picasso in his nude form. This created a bit of a controversy but was later dismissed. Therefore, there are a number of points in terms of the reflection and representation of the usage of imagery as well as texts within the three graphic novels written about, that help the reader to understand the relationship of comparison as well as contradiction that sets them apart from each other in their own beautiful way. Works Cited 1. Williams, Bob. “A review of City of Glass by Paul Auster”. Available at http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1211 2. Lanier, Chris. “Kim Deitch’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams” Nov 5 2002. Available at http://www.awn.com/articles/reviews/kim-deitchs-boulevard-broken-dreams 3. Heater, Brian. “The Salon by Nick Bertozzi” April 10 2007. Available at http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2007/04/10/the-salon-by-nick-bertozzi/ Read More