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Sharaz-De (2000)

by Sergio Toppi(Favorite Author)

4.35 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

review 1: Toppi non è stato un autore facile: il suo stile di disegno è talmente particolare che non può essere pienamente compreso ad una prima lettura; la scansione delle sue tavole segue regole solo sue, e perdersi tra i suoi disegni è davvero troppo facile. Per questo, come narrativa sequenziale è digeribile solo da chi abbia una grande esperienza di lettura. Sono i lettori avvezzi a fumetti d'ogni tipo quelli che meglio possono apprezzare la sua opera. Come questo suo capolavoro, versione personale di parte delle 1000 e 1 notte.
review 2: Disclaimer: Copy received via Netgalley Did you ever see the old Sinbad movies? Maybe the one with the young Jane Seymour? The ones with the Ray Harryhausen special effects? Was it your first introduction to the Arabian Nig... morehts too? Did the actual tales with the frame story of sex and violence come as something as a surprise? Well, Mr. Toppi follows the tradition of the original stories and not the movies. And boy, is it something. I had never heard of Sergio Toppi before seeing this book posted up on Netgalley. I picked it up simply because of the subject matter. Therefore, I do not know how this work fits into his oeuvre. First, I would like to say something about the artwork. Mr. Simonson in his foreword notes that Toppi made excellent use of space as well as black and white. This is true. The copy I received via Netgalley, downloaded and read on computer, includes two tales that are done in color. The majority of the book is in down in black and white. The black and white illustrations are better than those that have been colored. The black and white drawings pull the reader in far more than those that have been colored. I do not know what the scheme in terms of color is for the final edition. But the black and white is stunning. The loneness of an exile is far more stabbing and heart rending in stark terms than in the washed out color. I hope the color is either just in the two stories or taken out all together in the hardcover version. (For parents, the artwork does have some topless women). In short, Toppi’s artwork = WOW! Sharaz-De (Sherazade) tells stories to save her life. The frame story of Arabian Nights not only shows the reader the sharp intelligence of a young woman, but also the power of story-telling to shape what is around us. Toppi keeps true to this idea. The stories are chosen to reflect on the situation that Sharaz-De finds herself in. They are not so much stories of passionate love, though passionate love is there, but stories about mercy and justice. It is hard not to see Sharaz-De herself in the character of the falcon who saves his prince or in the dwarf that demands a just payment or in the dijinn who falls in love with mercy. It is that choice of stories and the stunning artwork that make this a joy to read. Toppi keeps to the frame story and the reader becomes part of that frame. Using the storytelling technique of repetition, Toppi makes the reader part of the danger that Sharaz-De faces; the reader becomes the judge as well as Sharaz-De’s husband. At the same time, however, the reader is Sharaz-De, standing on the edge of that sword. It’s brilliant. The reader is lost in one story, finds the way out, and then is lost once more in Sharaz-De’s own predicament. I once knew someone who taught Arabic. He once said that the best translation of Arabian Nights was the Burton work. I don’t know Arabic, so I can’t speak for the accuracy of translation. What I do know, however, is that Toppi’s retelling is the most engrossing version of Arabian Nights I have seen.And that includes the mini-series that had Rufus Sewell in it. less

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