Graphic novel on Hitler’s rise to power
In a true story, David Lester's 312-page graphic novel The Listener reveals a tragic act of spin doctoring that changed the course of history. Complacency, art and murder collide in Hitler's terrible rise to power in 1933, and in the artist Louise Shearing's search for meaning in the art of Europe after the fictional modern death of a political activist.
North York Central Library invite you to attend a presentation by David Lester from his graphic novel The Listener (with Jean Smith and Mecca Normal). Tuesday, June 14. 3:30 pm-4:30 pm. 5120 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M2N 5N9. Tel: 416-395-5535. FREE.
Author David Lester is a painter, graphic designer, cartoonist, and the guitarist in the rock duo Mecca Normal (13 albums on K Records, Matador and Kill Rock Starts). His art has appeared in Magnet Magazine, Z Magazine, Reproduce & Revolt: A Graphic Toolbox for the 21st Century Activist (AK Press), Celebrate People’s History (Feminist Press), and The San Diego Reader.
Jean Smith is the author of two published novels and a two-time recipient of Canada Council for the Arts awards as a professional writer of creative fiction. Excerpts of her fiction and articles on culture have appeared in Village Voice, NPR online, The Globe & Mail, Rolling Stone, and McSweeney's.
LINK to The Listener (sample pages, film, author bio):
http://thelistenergraphicnovel.wordpress.com/
And here is what the critics are saying:
"David Lester depicts the shadowy relationship between words and actions in The Listener. The black guilt that weighs heavily within Louise and the German couple seeps across each page like a Rorschach blot." — Nicole Gluckstern, SF Bay Guardian (San Francisco, CA)
"I found it quite a compelling, honest, and provocative read, with highly cinematic illustrations done in a combination of pen and ink, watercolour, and acrylics." –Allan MacInnis, Alienated In Vancouver (Vancouver, BC)
"In this striking mixture of fiction and history. Along the way, of course, Lester also gives us a lot of great artwork, strong characterizations and a fascinating look into the way Hitler rose to power in Germany in 1933. Recommended." — Brian Cronin, Comic Book Resouces (Los Angeles, CA)
"An achievement all the more remarkable because the author-artist of this book has managed to place himself within a female protagonist, with perhaps as much skill as the scriptwriters (one of them, later blacklist victim and my own late friend, Ring Lardner, Jr.) was to manage for his friend, that great actress of spunky women, Katharine Hepburn." — Paul Buhle, ZEEK: A Jewish Journal of Thought & Culture (San Francisco, CA)
"These stories are all compelling, especially the depiction of the propaganda engine of the Nazi Party in the early 1930s…" — James Fulton, Things I Like (Toronto, ON)
"This is an amazing book. I loved both the pictures and the text, but was most impressed with how the stories were interwoven. I think this would make a very interesting book for discussion groups." — Sarah Batchelder, Masters in Library Science, Goodreads (Tuscon, Arizona)
"Lester’s monochrome panels are lovely, bringing an emotional payload to all that heavy subject matter." — Adrian Mack, Georgia Straight (Vancouver, BC)
"Lester’s drawing is wonderfully expressive and the book is an intense and well-structured look at a forgotten pivotal moment in history…"– BK Munn, Sequential (Canada)
"Lots of depth, lots of great imagery." — Comic Attack (Los Angeles, CA)
"Just as Art Spiegelman juxtaposes his contemporary life and his father’s struggles during the Holocaust, Lester similarly contrasts the past and present." — The Daily Californian (Berkeley, CA)
"The Listener is a good book for anyone who would be classified as either a history buff, an art buff, or a basic comic/graphic novel fan." — Bernard C. Cormier (Nova Scotia)
"…this affecting and thoughtful debut belongs on any grown-up comic bookshelf that also includes, say, Art Spiegelman’s Maus, and Alan Moore and Joyce Brabner’s Iran-Contra history, Brought to Light." — Adrian Mack, Georgia Straight (Vancouver, BC)
Review in the SF Bay Guardian: http://www.sfbg.com/2011/05/03/bleak-frames-and-guilt
9 thoughts on “Graphic novel on Hitler’s rise to power”
Hello Jr Mint,
Thanks for the post. The graphic novel you mentioned made me think, in a very general way, of another graphic novel covering the same time period: “Maus” by Art Spiegelman. (I think one of the reviews for your book makes the connection between these two graphic novels.)
Has anyone out there read either of these books?
Not Quite Miss Rumphius
Miss Rumphius,
I have read “Maus” (book one and two); and was stuck by how the artist / writer acknowledged how the trama of death camps stuck both himself and his family. It is a powerful reminder how the government can shape or destroy a family or individual.
The “Maus” books are a perfect example on the stories that graphic comics can’tell. With stark black and white graphic that relay the horror of that timeframe.
Is this book available through the public library? I can’t find it in the catalogue.
Mary, unfortunately the book is currently not available in the system but we are working to rectify that. It is a marvelous read if you do get your hands on a copy.
Hello Dione,
Thanks for your comments on the “Maus” books — I think you’ve really summed up why they work so well. I agree that some stories are perfectly suited to the graphic novel format.
Not Quite Miss Rumphius
My favourite WWII graphic novel is “Yossel”, http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?R=180871
It plays with the form as the youthful main character draws pictures of what he’s experiencing as a coping mechanism.
There are a number of fabulous, very impactful graphic books dealing with war. Not Quite Miss Rumphius, you might be interested in “Resistance Book 1”, the first of a children’s graphic book trilogy dealing with life in Nazi-occupied France. It features two children, Paul and Marie, who hide a jewish friend in their wine cellar when his paren’ts are taken by the Nazis, and eventually join a resistance group in an effort to reunite their friend with his paren’ts. It’s a very thoughtful and suspenseful story. The second book in the trilogy is coming out this July.
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM2673560&R=2673560
Hello Claire,
Thanks so much for your recommendation. I’m not familiar with this particular trilogy and look forward to getting acquainted with it. The first book sounds, as you say, like a suspenseful story!
Not Quite Miss Rumphius
Here’s an interview with the author of The Listener, David Lester, on the University of Manitoba radio station (June, 2011). The video includes illustrations from the book.
http://vimeo.com/26852199