Berlin City of Stones, Book One

by Lutes, Jason

• ISBN13: 9781896597294
• ISBN10: 1896597297
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-06-01
• Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly

Summary

Berlin: City of Stonespresents the first part of Jason Lutes' captivating trilogy, set in the twilight years of Germany's Weimar Republic. Kurt Severing, a journalist, and Marthe Muller, an art student, are the central figures in a broad cast of characters intertwined with the historical events unfolding around them.City of Stonescovers eight months in Berlin, from September 1928 to May Day, 1929, meticulously documenting the hopes and struggles of its inhabitants as their future is darkened by a glowing shadow. Jason Lutes, born in New Jersey in 1967, is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and a former art director atThe Stranger. His first graphic novel,Jar of Fools, was published by Drawn & Quarterly in 1995. Berlin: City of Stones, the first part of Jason Lutes' captivating trilogy, is a graphic novel set in the twilight years of Germany's Weimar Republic. Hurt Severing, a journalist, and Marthe Muller, an art student, are the central figures in a broad cast of characters intertwined with the pivotal historical events unfolding around them. The bookcovers eight months in Berlin, from September 1928 to May Day 1929, meticulously documenting the hopes and struggles of its inhabitants as their future is darkened by a growing shadow. "A comic of impressive scope. One of the appealing things about Berlin is Lutes' love of the comic medium. His story is full of novel combinations of text and pictures, shuttling (a laWings of Desire) between impassive bird's-eye cityscapes and dairy-like internal monologues."San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "A comic of impressive scope. One of the appealing things aboutBerlinis Lutes' love of the comic medium. His story is full of novel combinations of text and pictures, shuttling (a laWings of Desire) between impassive bird's-eye cityscapes and dairy-like internal monologues."San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "[Berlin] will be the longest, most sophisticated work of historical fiction in the [graphic novel] medium. Lutes has a natural, clean, European drawing style, much like Herge'sTintin. . . This book has the density of the best novels."Time "This black-and-white historical narrative, written and illustrated by Lutes, collects eight volumes of his ongoing comic book set in Berlin during the late '20s. It's a multilayered tale of love and politics at the beginning of the Nazi era, as Lutes follows the stories of three characters: a 20ish art student from the provinces, a textile worker, and a young Jewish radical. Their lives intersect in only the subtlest waysLutes depicts them crossing paths at some great public events, such as the May Day march that closes this part of his [trilogy]. And Lutes plays with perspective in a visual sense as well, jumping from point-of-view frames to overhead angles, including one from a dirigible flying above in honor of the Kaiser. At street level, Lutes integrates his historical research smoothly, and cleverly evokes the sounds and smells of a city alive with public debate and private turmoil. The competing political factions include communists, socialists, democrats, nationalists, and fascists, and all of Lutes's characters get swept up by events. Marthe, the beautiful art student, settles in with Kurt, the cynical and detached journalist; Gudrun, the factory worker, loses her job, and her nasty husband (to the Nazi party), then joins a communist cooperative with her young daughters; Schwartz, a teenager enamored with the memory of Rosa Luxembourg, balances his incipient politics with his religion at home and his passion for Houdini. The lesser figures seem fully realized as well, from the despotic a