Comics That Never Were #3
by T. Hodler
Thursday, April 1, 2010
The nonexistence of such a work is abominable. Death cannot be an obstacle. Hogarth’s illustrated edition of Benjamin’s Illuminations is the book for which we wait.
—China Miéville, in response to an enlightening (if typically prolix), 1984 but new-to-me essay by Burne Hogarth, on Tarzan and the modern age. I endorse Miéville’s suggestion.
Labels: Burne Hogarth, Comics That Never Were, Walter Benjamin
Man, talk about clutter. That Hogarth drawing at the link is the most cluttered thing I’ve ever seen. I got pretty excited about the idea of an illustrated Benjamin courtesy of Hogarth, then I realized it was Burne, not William. Benjamin should be the patron saint of comics collectors since he was such an omnivore of children’s books and prints (and the Arcades Project was his fanzine or blog).
Even though Hogarth’s essay is reactionary, I have to give him credit for actually contending with the art he disapproves of. Usually when you read or hear a statement of anti-modernism or anti-post-modernism from someone espousing a more traditional form, it’s obvious they have no idea what they are talking about. Hogarth actually posits a germ of a theory about assemblage that’s actually worth thinking about. What he says about assemblage could be applied to the work of Aurora Robson or E Anatsui or Tony Cragg, even if they ultimately would disagree with his conclusion.