Graphic novel Critical Essay | Graphic Narratives

Critical Review by Publishers Weekly

SOURCE: A review of City of Glass, in Publishers Weekly, Vol. 241, No. 29, July 18, 1994, p. 241.

[In the review below, the critic favorably assesses the graphic adaptation of Paul Auster's novel City of Glass.]

[Paul] Auster's acclaimed novel City of Glass, a dreamlike meditation on language and fiction in the form of a detective novel, has been translated into comics form to stunning effect. And while [Paul] Karasik's faithful adaptation of Auster's crisp prose partially obscures its author's sly allusions to the act of writing itself, [David] Mazzuchelli's black-and-white illustrations capture and expand on Auster's precise documentation of place, psychological development and pedagogical improvisation with unusual style, simplicity and graphic facility. This combination story, lecture and literary deconstruction begins when New York City detective novelist Daniel Quinn answers a wrong number. Donning the personas of both the detective he created and his own creator, Auster himself, Quinn...
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