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Of Lamb (2011)

by Matthea Harvey(Favorite Author)

4.07 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1934781819 (ISBN13: 9781934781814)

languge

English

genre

Graphic Novels & Comics

publisher

McSweeney's

review 1: a charming, strange, and slightly creepy collaboration between a poet armed with an eraser and an artist with a bizarre eye for color and an affection for drawing animals. the book is an erasure of a biography of Charles Lamb (and his sister Mary) to recreate a very introspective variant of the child's rhyme 'mary had a little lamb'. harvey's poetic remainders are delicate and brief and none the less convey a moving and sad tale. porter's drawing bring a thoughtful absurdity, perfectly accenting the mood of the writing. a stellar collaboration and a delightful and strange book.
review 2: I was at the Chapters in Bloor West Village looking for the poetry section. To my surprise it was hidden between the humour and games/puzzles section beside the kids area. ... moreIt was separated from the Literature section by an entire floor. There I found "Of Lamb." I picked it up thinking it was a children's book that had been misplaced. As I thumbed through it though, I was soon enthralled in its perverse little world.The poems in "Of Lamb" are created using the erasure-style by using Charles Lamb's biography while combining the story of Mary and Had A Little Lamb. With a mixture of fragmented text and gorgeous illustrations, Harvey and Porter tackle the unreliability of memory, the strength of devotion, and the unstableness of feeling. "What did Mary thinkof children? Lamba father of a dark-haired little girl lamb?Lamb remarked:"I dislike being alone.""Lamb, shut up."It's a perverse and dark relationship between Mary and Lamb. Lamb declares himself a "non-conformist" and completely loyal to Mary, thus wanting to be human. Mary, in turn, loves Lamb, but lives confused with Lamb's wants and therefore, continually disappoints him. It's a strange and sad kind of love indeed."A quarrel began the trouble.Irresistible Mary cautioned against pleasure.Lamb, dozing by the fireturned round and said, "Oh?"Disappointed Lamb ate a nettle."The paintings weave through the text often corresponding to the feeling or the mood colors associated with the phrases: pink for carnal play and white for cold isolation. The words themselves become the paintings which glue up the disjointed verse with a turn of the page. The back of the book has a nice afterword on its creative process.I always enjoy when a poet goes out and experiments with visuals and text. Isn't text really a visual to communicate as well? Plus, erasure is used as an advantage here by sculpting a brand new story from used text. It story becomes something entirely different. My interest here is sparked while I read Kenneth Goldsmith's Uncreative Writing. It's an interesting time for poets.I read "Of Lamb" two times while in a diner for brunch. It was a warm, but quirky decadent desert on a cold winter's day. less

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