Synopses & Reviews
The Man Who Grew His Beard is Belgian cartoonist Olivier Schrauwen's first American book, having staked a reputation over the last decade as one of Europe's most talented storytellers. It collects seven short stories, each a headspinning display of craft and storytelling that mixes early twentieth-century comics influences like Winsor McCay with a thoroughly contemporary voice that provokes and entertains with subversively surreal humor and subtle criticism of twentieth-century tropes and images. The stories themselves, though each stands alone, are intertwined thematically, offering peeks into the minds of semi-autistic, achingly isolated men and their feverish inner worlds and how they interact and contrast with their real environment. Though Schrauwen taps 'surrealist' or 'absurdist' impulses in his work, you will not read a more careful and precise collection of stories this year.
The stories included are: "Hair Types," a hilarious piece that on the surface explores the pseudoscientific classification of personality as a function of hair but becomes something more akin to a fable about self-fulfilling prophecy; "Chromo Congo," a silent story about two men on safari who meet a corpulent and obnoxious hunter; as well as "The Task," "The Man Who Grew His Beard," "The Lock," "The Cave," and "The Imaginist."
Though this is Schrauwen's first U.S. edition of comics, he has wowed American fans with his appearances in the anthology MOME over the last few years, and one of his MOME stories was one of three comics selected for the 2009 edition of Dave Eggers' influential Best American Nonrequired Reading.
Review
"Schrauwen creates new worlds in every story, and these worlds envelope us, but he never allows us to forget. He doesn't let us forget that he's an artist, and that we are readers, and that those are his pencil lines and paint strokes on the page we're reading. And this reminder of the form and experience is exactly what makes his stories seem so real." John Dermot Woods
Review
"(Starred Review) This collection of stories is a wonderful example of how an animator's eye, artist's hand, and storyteller's vision can combine in a series of stylistic experiments that harken to a previous age of comics, but speak to the contemporary world we live in.... Sometimes looking like a throwback to vintage comics and sometimes like a clever homage to the Kama Sutra, this collection is, at all times, the work of a master storyteller." The Faster Times
Review
"The stories are funny, ironic and absurd.... They are amusing, weird and compelling -- the visual aspect makes them all the more so." Publishers Weekly
Review
"These are deeply strange short stories...; even in this short-story-saturated alternative comics climate, there's nothing else like his gestalt of finely calibrated nonsense. It's good to see that comics can do things you'd never think to ask of them in the first place." Robert Boyd The Great God Pan Is Dead
Review
"That is one sexy book." Sean T. Collins Attentiondeficitdisorderly
Review
"The Man Who Grew His Beard by Olivier Schrauwen is INCREDIBLE! Absolutely gorgeous and completely bonkers. Lovely." Oliver East ( < em=""> Trains Are... Mint < m=""> )
Synopsis
- The Man Who Grew His Beard collects seven short stories. Though each stands alone, they are intertwined thematically, offering peeks into the minds of semi-autistic, achingly isolated men, their feverish inner worlds and how they interact and contrast with their real environment. Though Schrauwen taps 'surrealist' or 'absurdist' impulses in his work, you will not read a more careful and precise collection of stories this year. The stories included are: "Hair Types," a hilarious piece that on the surface explores the pseudoscientific classification of personality as a function of hair but becomes something more akin to a fable about self-fulfilling prophecy; "Chromo Congo," a silent story about two men on safari who meet a corpulent and obnoxious hunter; as well as "The Task," "The Man Who Grew His Beard," "The Lock," "The Cave," and "The Imaginist."
Synopsis
The first U.S. collection from a budding international superstar.
Synopsis
The first U.S. collection from a buddinginternational superstar.
About the Author
Olivier Schrauwen was born in Belgium in 1977 and studied animation at the Academy of Art in Gent, and comics at the Saint Luc in Brussels. He currently lives in Berlin.