Nicolas Mahler Knihy

V roce 2024 uplyne 100 let od smrti velkého pražského Němce, spisovatele Franze Kafky. Snad každý zná jeho černobílé kresbičky, např. muže zhrouceného za stolem. Kafka kreslil velmi rád, a jak v roce 1913 poznamenal v dopise své snoubence Felici Bauerové, „kreslení ho uspokojovalo víc než cokoli jiného“. Rakouský komiksový kreslíř Nicolas Mahler má podobný minimalistický styl jako Kafka. Takže se velké výročí rozhodl oslavit komiksovou Kafkovou biografií: trefně, vtipně, s dobrou znalostí detailů z Kafkova života a jeho tvorby.

"Musil belongs in the company of Joyce, Proust, Kafka, and Svevo. . . . (This translation) is a literay and intellectual event of singular importance."--New Republic.

Eine Nacht, eine Stadt und zwei Freunde, die wissen, dass es nichts Größeres gibt als die Wahrheit des Moments, in dem die Kneipe schließt. Von Bier zu Bier und von Geschichte zu Geschichte treibend erzählen zwei Nachtgestalten scharfsinnig, klug und mit subversivem Witz von der Tragik der Liebe, dem Wahnsinn des Lebens sowie den Spuren der Geschichte, die allem zugrunde liegt und nie ganz verschwindet.

Hlavný hrdina Reger, ktorý vyštudoval v Lipsku a vo Viedni hudbu, píše pre Times kritické články. Už vyše tridsať rokov preto chodí každý druhý deň do Umeleckohistorického múzea vo Viedni. Tu, v Bordoneho sále, presedí niekoľko hodín, ustavične sa pozerá na Tintorettov obraz Muž s bielou bradou a rozjíma o umení a živote. Má na to vhodné podmienky: ideálnu teplotu v Bordoneho sále a Irrsiglera, zriadenca múzea, ktorý splní každé jeho želanie. Ako sa však Reger dokáže vyrovnať so stratou svojej manželky? Dokáže ju nahradiť umenie? Zachránia Regera obrazy starých majstrov? Aj na tieto otázky nachádza Bernhardovo majstrovské dielo rozhodujúce odpovede.

Nicolas Mahlers kleine Comic-Geschichte der Philosophie von Platon bis Foucault Philosophie ist unverständlich, langweilig und witzlos? Denkste! Das kann nur der behaupten, der noch nicht Nicolas Mahlers ebenso kluge wie subtil komische Comic-Geschichte der Philosophie kennt. Hier erzählt er bislang unbekannte Szenen aus dem Leben der 22 berühmtesten Philosophinnen und Philosophen: Wir erleben Partyspaß mit Kant, besuchen mit Hegel eine Kunstausstellung, sind mit Marx im Supermarkt und mit Nietzsche im Pfadfinderlager, gehen mit Deleuze ins Kino und feiern Traumhochzeit mit Simone de Beauvoir … Und auch wenn sich nichts so zugetragen hat, haben wir mehr über das Leben, Denken und Fühlen des jeweiligen Philosophen erfahren als je zuvor – und wie selten über die Absurdität unserer menschlichen Existenz gelacht.

Thomas Bernhard's Old Masters has been called his "most enjoyable novel" by the New York Review of Books. It's a wild satire that takes place almost entirely in front of Tintoretto's White-Bearded Man, on display in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, as two typically Viennese pedants (serving as alter egos for Bernhard himself) irreverently, even contemptuously take down high culture, society, state-supported artists, Heidegger, and much more. It's a book built on thought and conversation rather than action or visuals. Yet somehow celebrated Austrian cartoonist Nicholas Mahler has brought it to life in graphic form--and it's brilliant. This volume presents Mahler's typically minimalist cartoons alongside new translations of selected passages from the novel. The result is a version of Old Masters that is strikingly new, yet still true to Bernhard's bleak vision, and to the novel's outrageous proposition that the perfect work of art is truly unbearable to even think about--let alone behold.

A twist on the Irish literary classic Ulysses, told through Nicolas Mahler’s distinctive graphic novel style.   Dublin, 16 June 1904: through a day in the life of the advertising agent Leopold Bloom and the sensations of the ordinary, James Joyce created a maximal book from a minimum of matter. Ulysses, the most important novel of modernity, is a defining book of the twentieth century. Joyce’s creation—also spectacularly innovative in form—inspired Nicolas Mahler to attempt a literary retelling that is not a mere illustration or adaption of the novel but an independent and equally as inventive work. Using comics, Mahler transforms the various literary techniques of the original. He assembles his images with humorous and philosophical verve, quoting and rambling along in the spirit of Joyce.   With this graphic interpretation of the modern classic, which also constitutes a homage to the golden era of the newspaper comic strip, Ulysses can be newly discovered in a delightfully unexpected form.

A twist on the French literary classic In Search of Lost Time, told through Nicolas Mahler's distinctive graphic novel style. Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time is one of the most important works of French literature--if not the most important. Reading it can be life-changing. Nicolas Mahler's comic is not a retelling of this classic, nor a shortened version of Proust's monumental work. Rather, it is a surprisingly funny graphic novel, comically disrespectful of the celebrated work yet completely permeated by Proustian spirit. Complemented by his clear and sparse illustrations, Mahler's minimal nature of text use is easy on the eye, even for those uninitiated into graphic novels. For long-time fans of graphic novels, it a perfect entry into a beloved literary classic. A compact picture stream through time and space, Mahler's In Search of Lost Time is a brilliantly complex house of mirrors replete with Proustian motives and perceptions.

Sardonic take on superheroes, their fans and the businessmen behind them. Created by Korporate Comics in a flash of money-grubbing cynicism appalling even by their standards, Angelman's powers (which include empathy and the ability to be a good listener prove less than adequate to deal with the ever-sinister threat of insane plastic surgeon villain Gender-Bender, or for that matter the fickleness of fashion, a disastrous movie adaptation and a desperate 'Reboot' attempt by Korporte. A brilliant satire.

A twist on the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland told through Nicolas Mahler's distinctive graphic novel style. Alice is back in Wonderland. Here she meets the White Rabbit, who leads her down into his rabbit hole in search of an illustrated edition of H. C. Artmann's Frankenstein in Sussex. Over the course of the novel, Alice repeatedly runs into the Rabbit, who quotes freely from other literary works by the likes of Herman Melville and E. M. Cioran. Unlike in Lewis Carroll's classic, Alice is not traveling the Wonderland we know. Rather, in Nicolas Mahler's whimsical graphic novel retelling, she is in a house deep beneath the ground. On subsequent floors, she encounters the famous creations of Lewis Carroll: the Hookah-Smoking Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, the Mock Turtle, and many others. One after the other, these creatures address the terrors of childhood and youth. It is only when Alice reaches the ground floor of the house that we arrive at the inevitable climax: face to face with Frankenstein's Monster.