Peter Kuper

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness has unsettled generations of readers with its haunting portrait of colonialism and the brutal exploitation of African lives. Peter Kuper's graphic adaptation reimagines this masterpiece for a new generation. Illustrated to evoke early twentieth-century woodcuts, Kuper's Heart of Darkness confronts Conrad's famously ambiguous, labyrinthine sentences and invents in stark black and white panels a visual language that excavates the hidden corners of Conrad's 1899 masterpiece. Capturing the ominous atmosphere and hellish conditions of the Belgian Congo, Kuper transforms this lurid tale of madness, greed and evil into something shockingly modern. Long-time admirers of the novel will see Conrad's opus with new eyes while new readers will discover a brilliant introduction to a classic work.

Long fascinated with the work of Franz Kafka, Peter Kuper began illustrating his stories in 1988. Initially drawn to the master's dark humour, Kuper adapted the stories over the years to plumb their deeper truths. Working from new translations of the classic texts, Kuper has reimagined these iconic stories for the twenty-first century, using setting and perspective to comment on contemporary issues. Long-time lovers of Kafka will appreciate Kuper's innovative interpretations, while Kafka novices will discover a haunting introduction to some of the great writer's most beguiling stories. Kafkaesque stands somewhere between adaptation and wholly original creation, going beyond a simple illustration of Kafka's words to become a stunning work of art.

A stunning graphic novel adaptation of Franz Kafka's famous story of a man who finds himself transformed into a monstrous cockroach. "Darkly appropriate . . . Kuper's work rivals that of Art Spiegelman."--Chicago Sun-Times Acclaimed graphic artist Peter Kuper presents a brilliant, darkly comic reimagining of Kafka's classic tale of family, alienation, and a giant bug. Kuper's electric drawings--which merge American cartooning with German expressionism--bring Kafka's prose to vivid life, reviving the original story's humor and poignancy in a way that will surprise and delight readers of Kafka and graphic novels alike.