city of glass, a graphic thriller
A test within a test. Fiction within fiction. A story that exists beyond the characters and the writer that created those characters. A narration with gaps that cannot be filled. In this unlimited story drawn by David Mazzucchelli and adapted into comic by Paul Karasi, we submerge in a space where the reflection of the glass cannot be told. We mean unlimited because stories overcome the intention of the narrator and are alive.
"City of glass" has just been published in Basque by Txalaparta. Harkaitz Cano was the translator. This is what he wrote in the prologue: Another story settled in New York: "Taxi Driver" (Martin Scorsese, 1976). This is what the veteran taxi driver, Travis, tells to the new driver (De Niro): “You choose the job, but then, the job makes you yourself. Paul Auster decided to become a writer, then, the job plows Paul Auster”. Paul Auster’s literature is the limit between reality and fiction. With this novel, Mazzucchelli and Karasi managed to break another border. Arranging auter’s difficult text into images is not an easy challenge. Mazzucchelli and Karasi merged into Auster’s "City of Glass" but they didn’t do a single adaptation in Auster’s world, but just integration. According to the drawings, although they might seem simple and static at the beginning, if you observe every frame carefully, as if it were a story board on a film, you realize that there is all you need on it. And we thank that simplicity, because the story is hard to follow. The planning of the frames and the strong contrasts (except for the talk in the end, there is no grey on this black and white comic) takes us to the parallel and horizontal landscape. Once you start reading this graphic novel, the map that we need to continue the trip will become the comic itself.
"City of glass" has just been published in Basque by Txalaparta. Harkaitz Cano was the translator. This is what he wrote in the prologue: Another story settled in New York: "Taxi Driver" (Martin Scorsese, 1976). This is what the veteran taxi driver, Travis, tells to the new driver (De Niro): “You choose the job, but then, the job makes you yourself. Paul Auster decided to become a writer, then, the job plows Paul Auster”. Paul Auster’s literature is the limit between reality and fiction. With this novel, Mazzucchelli and Karasi managed to break another border. Arranging auter’s difficult text into images is not an easy challenge. Mazzucchelli and Karasi merged into Auster’s "City of Glass" but they didn’t do a single adaptation in Auster’s world, but just integration. According to the drawings, although they might seem simple and static at the beginning, if you observe every frame carefully, as if it were a story board on a film, you realize that there is all you need on it. And we thank that simplicity, because the story is hard to follow. The planning of the frames and the strong contrasts (except for the talk in the end, there is no grey on this black and white comic) takes us to the parallel and horizontal landscape. Once you start reading this graphic novel, the map that we need to continue the trip will become the comic itself.
