Ex Libris

Name: Ex Libris
Brand: Unknown
SKU: 9781941250440
Price: 64.99 NZD
Availability: InStock

By Matt Madden

0.0 (0 reviews)

3.26

( 445 ratings, 78 reviews)

Summary

Ex Libris follows a character confined to a room with only a futon and a bookcase filled with comics. As they explore the comics, they uncover hidden messages and a looming threat. The story blurs fiction and reality, weaving themes of sanity and madness as the key to escape may lie between the panels. Using a variety of inventive visual and narrative styles, the graphic novel pays homage to metafictional writers like Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino, drawing inspiration from Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.
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Format: Hardback

$64⁹⁹

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Ex Libris

$64⁹⁹

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers who appreciate experimental graphic novels, metafiction, and explorations of comics as a medium. Fans of literary postmodernism and visual storytelling will find this book compelling.

Description

Ex Libris revolves around a character trapped in a room with nothing but a futon and a bookcase full of comics. As they peruse covers, read stories and fragments of stories, they begin to suspect that the comics contain hidden messages and... a threat. Fiction and reality blur; sanity and madness become increasingly intertwined as the reader becomes convinced the key to their predicament is to be found between the panels of the strange books.

With a dizzying array of inventive visual and narrative styles, Ex Libris continues the line of exploration and play that Madden initiated with 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style. Ex Libris is a tribute to the meta-fictional tradition of writers like Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Vladimir Nabokov, and Italo Calvino (whose novel, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, was the inspiration).

Matt Madden (NYC 1968) is a cartoonist, teacher, and translator. His best-known book is 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style, a comics adaptation of Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style. His recent work includes the comic books Drawn Onward and Bridge. He has been living in Philadelphia since 2016.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Publishers Weekly praises it as an "endlessly inventive work" and a "metafictional master class in comics," highlighting Madden's skillful use of comics' building blocks. Library Journal commends the formal inventiveness and emotional depth, comparing it to Calvino’s work. Foreword Reviews calls it a "dazzling graphic novel" that integrates metafictional elements to enhance suspense and mood.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781941250440

Publisher: Uncivilized Books

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 06 January 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: Uncivilized Books

Illustration: Color illustrations throughout

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 228.0mm

Height: 285.0mm

Weight: 300g

Pages: 120

Collections

Adult Graphic Novels Fiction Graphic Novels Matt Madden

About the Author

Matt Madden is a cartoonist who has also taught in art schools around the world. His best-known book is 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style (Penguin), a comics adaptation of Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style which led to his initiation into Oubapo, The Workshop for Potential Comics, in 2005. In 2013 he was named Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government. He has also done translations from the French and Spanish, including Aristophane's The Zabîme Sisters (First Second) and Edmond Baudoin’s Piero (New York Review Comics). He wrote two comics textbooks in collaboration with his wife, Jessica Abel, and the couple were series editors for The Best American Comics from Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt for six years. From 2012 to 2016, he and his family did a four-year residency in Angoulême, France at La Maison des auteurs. They are currently living in Philadelphia where he is doing translations and finishing up his new comic, Ex Libris, when he’s not looking after his kids or playing guitar. You'll find more at www.mattmadden.com.

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