Al Jaffee's Mad Life
Recently I started reading 'Inklings: A memoir by Jeffrey Koterba', but I had to put it away as it was too evocative of the family conditions. I am not made to read well written books like 'Angelas Ashes' by Frank Mccourt.
The material that Al Jaffe has could have been written in a similar way, very well and never be read. But written in the collabarotive way that it is, with Jaffe's unique sketches of his childhood and Weisman's writing, 'the book will be read' (Paraphrasing Adam Levine).
Even if you try to get ahead of the book with the sketches, they need explanation of all the mischievous things that Al Jaffe has been upto in his life. This way the writing and the sketching take the yarn ahead smoothly. This book is an example of how difficult situations like displacement from your familiar environment into a different culture back and forth, can be looked at in a 'funny' perspective at some cost to the author.
Talking of funny, its the 'funnies' that he looked forward to in the tough time and little surprise that he grew up to be such a big contributor to MAD magazine. Fold-ins. Tall tales.
Feb 19, 2011
The material that Al Jaffe has could have been written in a similar way, very well and never be read. But written in the collabarotive way that it is, with Jaffe's unique sketches of his childhood and Weisman's writing, 'the book will be read' (Paraphrasing Adam Levine).
Even if you try to get ahead of the book with the sketches, they need explanation of all the mischievous things that Al Jaffe has been upto in his life. This way the writing and the sketching take the yarn ahead smoothly. This book is an example of how difficult situations like displacement from your familiar environment into a different culture back and forth, can be looked at in a 'funny' perspective at some cost to the author.
Talking of funny, its the 'funnies' that he looked forward to in the tough time and little surprise that he grew up to be such a big contributor to MAD magazine. Fold-ins. Tall tales.
Feb 19, 2011
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