Customer Reviews

Krazy Kat: A Novel in Five Panels

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I guess I'm just a big softie and a hackneyed sentimentalist, but there was something about this book that got to me. Recasting Krazy and Ignatz and hateful, hurtful people in an ugly 20th century landscape devoid of the magic and beauty that radiated around Coconino County was a real blast of cold water. I loved the opening, in which Krazy gives up comics after witnessing the first atomic bomb blast, but the outright savagery that characterizes the rest of the book wears very thin. Ignatz goes from being mischievous to being a complete bastard in no time, and his plans to shake Krazy back into work through constant humiliation and degradation are creepy. I guess the point is that our century has degenerated to the point where something as magical as "Krazy Kat" could never thrive like it did in the first half (fans ranged from James Joyce to Picasso to Woodrow Wilson). But you don't need Jay Cantor's arty postmodernist tract to tell you that. Just turn on the six o'clock news, dollin'.

Reminiscent of Frederic Tuten's "Tintin in the New World: A Romance," Jay Cantor takes a comic long since unpublished and attempts to reinvigorate and modernize its characters in novel format. Both "Tintin" and "Krazy Kat" flirt with postmodernism. Both Tuten and Cantor soak their characters in a philosophical bath. And most notably, both authors suggest a ripe and healthy sex life would serve as the tonic for the comic characters' incompleteness, flatness.

Why do this to "Krazy Kat?" Who can tell from the insipid prose Cantor offers up in this confusing, frustrating novel? Although there were some humorous scenes in the book (notably the image of comic strip characters creating a terrorist organization in order to win the rights to themselves from Hearst), generally the book was weighed down with too much Freud, too much babble, too much abstract.

And it's nothing like the comic strip, "Krazy Kat," which was sparse, mostly silent, and dreamlike. Sure it had surrealistic scenery and an ambiguous plot, but it defied explanation, and that was where its beauty lay. Cantor, apparently oblivious to the strip's finest quality, proceeded to trample over its delicate balance by overanalying.

Don't think. You can only hurt the ballclub.

I hear Jay Cantor's "The Death of Che Guevera" is a good book.

This is not a book for everyone. I am, admittedly, a fan of Cantor's style, so perhaps this isn't an unbiased review. Cantor's books have a way of sneaking up on you - they're kind of slow, but every sentence is a joy to read, if you enjoy good writing for the sake of good writing. In Krazy Kat in particular, I think Cantor does an excellent job of weaving theme and symbolism into something that literally is 2-dimmensional. He manages to glorify both the innocence of that simple, flat world that Kat and Ignatz live in, and the less-than-perfect but complete world that we inhabit. This is a book, for all its cartoonish presentation, about being human.

For me, Krazy Kat by Jay Cantor was the third in a sort-of trilogy of novels that retold the stories of various comic book type characters. Zorro (maybe not a comic book hero, but definitely close in fashion) by Isabel Allende and It's Superman by Tom DeHaven were retellings that were faithful to the original characters and stories and both were delights to read. Krazy Kat is not, but it's not the fact that it is revisionist that makes this book fail; instead it's the fact that it's a mess.

For those unfamiliar with Krazy Kat the comic strip, this book should definitely be avoided, as it would be like trying to watch a single episode of a serial and understanding instantly what's going on: it just won't happen. You need the history to get the present picture. But for those who dare go in without this familiarity, I offer this brief description: Krazy Kat was a comic strip that ran in the first half of the 20th century. Krazy was the main character, who loved Ignatz the Mouse. Ignatz did not return the feelings, instead choosing to constantly bean Krazy Kat in the head with a brick. But Krazy only thought of this as a sign of affection. The third character was Offisa Pup, who loved Krazy and would run Ignatz off to jail.

It was a simple concept, but brilliantly executed, so through the decades, the strip remained fresh and is considered by some to be the best comic strip ever. In particular, it was a favorite of various big name celebrities such as Walt Disney and Charlie Chaplin. Even now, among its fans, Krazy Kat is considered more than a comic strip. It is considered art.

Cantor's novel focuses on the premise that Krazy and Ignatz viewed the atomic bomb test in 1945 New Mexico. For Krazy, this forced her (Krazy's gender tended to fluctuate in the strip) to accept reality in a way she never had before. Suddenly, the bricks began to hurt. Krazy retires from the strip and becomes something of a recluse. Ignatz, who wants to get back to work, tries to cure her.

The novel is told in five sections: the first section tells of the onset of Krazy's problems. The second section deals with Ignatz's psychoanalysis. The third has them getting involved with motion pictures; the fourth with them joining a revolutionary group and the final one deals with their "romance" in an off-beat manner.

I imagine that this novel would have a very limited appeal. First of all, it would only be read by those familiar with Krazy Kat, but many of those people would be fans and would view this as a desecration of their favorite characters, especially in the last, mildly pornographic portion of the book. So it would only possibly appeal to those who can take the abuse these characters will get. Fan as I am of the strip, I'd still be willing to read something revisionist if it was done well, but here it isn't.

This book, as stated before, is a mess. Cantor, in his attempt to be literary, often fails in his attempt to be readable. This book was a bit of a chore to read, with barely enough quality to merit two stars. The humor is either overly subtle or like that brick to the head. This may be one of those books that gets better the more times it's read, but I don't know if it's worth the effort. My recommendation is to skip this book and buy a collection of the original strips instead (many of which will cost almost the same).

It's more a collection of long stories than 1 unified novel, but I thought this book was great. Cantor's prose is clear yet clever, and I was completely engaged throughout.

Krazy Kat is an odd duck of a book. Cantor recasts the comic strip characters with imagination, and the book is entertaining from start to finish, with some bizarre directions. I liked the setup, in which the gang has not worked for years because Krazy became disenchanted after witnessing an atomic test (and became an admirer of Oppenheimer and his anguish). Krazy is an innocent with a sort of Boopish hidden sexuality, and Ignatz is a clever schemer. The fifth panel, in which they imagine themselves as humans in an S/M relationship, is pretty wild. The novel has that sterility that comes with clever postmodern work - a couple days after reading it I had forgotten completely about it. But it certainly was fun while it lasted.