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rebus's review
4.0
I was never a fan of the modern Disneyfication of ancient fairy tales and thus never a fan of this genre, but these tales bring to life the creepy aspect of most ancient literature (though I do question Kick more than most, especially his love of the conservative dullard Harold Bloom as the reigning American critic).
It was great to see Wilde brought to such life, and I especially loved his assertion that most artists are all style and no sincerity, something even more true today as the technically proficient members of the upper middle class continue to churn out the most lifeless art in human history across every conceivable medium (TV, books, comics, sports, the internet and all visual art have been atrocious since the early 90s, and even music has faded badly, with few bands of note offering anything remotely progressive). The arts are indeed selfish.
I was also struck as to why I've always hated nonsense literature and the works produced by Baum and Carroll: it's honestly only the upper middle class who can afford (literally) to laugh. The rest have no time for the arts and anything they might read is of serious (or threatening) import. Oz was always about returning home, to safety and security, which all artists have to fall back upon, while the experience of the lower classes is always about the grave desire to run away from home and never return.
I keep failing to mention how often these tales are adapted purely in images and how often these pieces succeed, even when I'm not that familiar with the original works (and thanks to Kick at the very least for his incisively accurate introductions to those tales, even if a few pieces here or there throughout these volumes still fails). The gallery at the end of the book of illustrations from various works not included as narrative tales is also quite astonishing.
It was great to see Wilde brought to such life, and I especially loved his assertion that most artists are all style and no sincerity, something even more true today as the technically proficient members of the upper middle class continue to churn out the most lifeless art in human history across every conceivable medium (TV, books, comics, sports, the internet and all visual art have been atrocious since the early 90s, and even music has faded badly, with few bands of note offering anything remotely progressive). The arts are indeed selfish.
I was also struck as to why I've always hated nonsense literature and the works produced by Baum and Carroll: it's honestly only the upper middle class who can afford (literally) to laugh. The rest have no time for the arts and anything they might read is of serious (or threatening) import. Oz was always about returning home, to safety and security, which all artists have to fall back upon, while the experience of the lower classes is always about the grave desire to run away from home and never return.
I keep failing to mention how often these tales are adapted purely in images and how often these pieces succeed, even when I'm not that familiar with the original works (and thanks to Kick at the very least for his incisively accurate introductions to those tales, even if a few pieces here or there throughout these volumes still fails). The gallery at the end of the book of illustrations from various works not included as narrative tales is also quite astonishing.
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