|
The Wild Party: The Lost Classic by Joseph Moncure March | 
 enlarge
| Creator: Art Spiegelman
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $10.88
You Save: $5.12 (32%)
New (31) Used (26) Collectible (4) from $5.50
Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 137300
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 120
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.4
ISBN: 0375706437
Dewey Decimal Number: 741
EAN: 9780375706431
ASIN: 0375706437
Publication Date: 1994
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
"Spiegelman's drawings are like demonic woodcuts: every angle, line, and curve jumps out at you. Stylishness and brutishness are in perfect accord."
-- The New York Times
Art Spiegelman's sinister and witty black-and-white drawings give charged new life to Joseph Moncure March's Wild Party, a lost classic from 1928. The inventive and varied page designs offer perfect counterpoint to the staccato tempo of this hard-boiled jazz-age tragedy told in syncopated rhyming couplets.
Here is a poem that can make even readers with no time for poetry stop dead in their tracks. Once read, large shards of this story of one night of debauchery will become permanently lodged in the brain. When The Wild Party was first published, Louis Untermeyer declared: "It is repulsive and fascinating, vicious and vivacious, uncompromising, unashamed . . . and unremittingly powerful. It is an amazing tour de force."
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 And to think I had never heard of this until now! April 12, 2008
An interest in film noir led to my discovery of Joseph Moncure March (he was the author of "The Set-Up," a narrative poem from which the movie of the same name was derived) and what a discovery. I am sure I would have been blown away by "The Wild Party" even without the illustrations, but the Art Spiegelman work was wonderful and I ended up at an art supply store getting scratch boards so I could take a crack at it myself (not showing much aptitude yet).
I'd like to know more about March. I'm tempted to say that he didn't live up to the early promise shown by his two famous narrative poems, but maybe he lost interest in the style and went on to lead a very satisfactory (and rather long) life doing other things.
lost classic found March 11, 2007
Dark, seductive and brilliantly written, Joseph Moncure March's The Wild Party offers up a cautionary tale in the key of jazz and debauchery. Highly recommended. One of my favorite pieces of literature.
 Worth the read November 3, 2006
I greatly enjoyed this book, complete with wonderful illustrations!
It was a quick read and it was the exact text thrust into Andrew Lippa's musical by the same name! Wonderful history and research for the musical!
Excellent! August 17, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I decided to buy this book for no other reason than that I loved the 1949 Robert Wise film, "The Set-up", and wanted to check out the other book written by the original story's author, Joseph Moncure March. Certainly the brief description of the book made it even easier to buy.
But now having read it in one sitting, I was blown away at how brilliant it was! The poetic style is very easy to get into, and its use to tell this gripping tale was amazing. It never seems forced in the least, but flows well and succeed's in pulling the reader into the party itself.
The characters are great, the kind that one wishes to know of some more. Queenie remains the center of the story, and rightfully so, she is the most developed and most fascinating.
Apparently this book was banned in Boston, and I guess it is understandable given the times. Still, even today the story maintains a kind of rawness and edge that stays with the reader.
I have not seen the move or the Broadway plays, and chances are won't, the original poem is more than satisfying enough for me.
Very very hghly recommended.
Powerful narrative, but I can do without the illustrations June 21, 2003
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
My interest in THE WILD PARTY started with the flop American-International Picture of 1975, a Merchant & Ivory production, with James Coco, Perry King and Raquel Welch. THE HERBERT HOOVER DRAG "stayed with me" for years, to the extent that I expect to perforate a Pianola roll of this music, using the soundtrack of the out-of-print Embassy VHS tape for the source.Few reviewers have probably seen the original 1928 book, which I have, in my player roll Studio, here in Maine. Thus, I can compare the 1999 revival version with what was sold (quietly, or under the table) in the late 'Twenties. The illustrations destroy my images of the narrative, since they remind me of a 'Forties "noir" film and not a 'Twenties apartment, which the author vividly describes, in his engaging minimalist poetic epic (or whatever this prose is called). The few pen-and-ink illustrations show Burrs as a James Coco type, physically ... and the text for Black (the Perry King character, in the film: Dale Sword) sounds not unlike a thumbnail bio for him, as well. Far better to have drawn from images of old MacFadden magazines (the sleazy publications of that day) or stills from silent movies, for the modern illustrations. The 1928 book has only a few drawings, and - perhaps - for good reason. As with radio, in the days of drama (before television), the theater of the mind conveys the major impressions. Sans serif type and the lack of "word clusters", plus spaces, which pepper the original volume, are also a downer, for me. The power of the raw story is heightened by the dignity of the Garamond (or whatever) typeface, in the 1928 book. Having said the above, this book is better than none, so I would recommend it. Only 750 copies were printed, of the first edition, by Pascal Convici (mine being #459). As with the other reviewers, I kept being drawn back to the narrative, repeatedly. No pictures were necessary! Regards, Douglas Henderson
ARTCRAFT Music Rolls...
|
|
|
Copyright 2006 - CD Shopper | |
