A Fine Selection of Graphic Novels in French

I am a very big reader of graphic novels, searching for the happy meeting between writing and images. In the last weeks I had the chance to read some good ones, mostly in French, and I am happy to share my latest recommendations of this genre.

Les Danois is my least favorite on this list. Set in Denmark, it is about a mysterious virus affecting the immigrant Muslim population, with women starting to give birth to blonde children. It is the kind of genetic conspiracy with a hint of science fiction which is not my cup of tea. I didn´t fancy the idea either and was not too impressed by the illustrations.

Servir le Peuple - Wei renmin fuwu - is based on the homonymous novel by Yan Lianke. It is a massive volume actually, populated with grotesque characters and their open sexual encounters in the time of the Cultural Revolution. The small Wu is following his Maoist future in an openly hedonistic way and it was hilarious to see such an alternative undergroud kind of experience inspired by the Commander´s Little Red Book.

Writing that Les Cinq Conteurs de Bagdad has a 1001-Night kind of inspiration, is an example of thinking laziness. In fact, stories is a word strong enough to make you dream, inspire and create life stories. I also loved the lettering of the graphic novel and the graphic.

Hannah Arendt is a philosophical graphic novel. It resumes adequately the life of an unique woman philosopher and her loves in the trouble years of the WWII. The story is articulated and the illustrations are on point. Actually, there were a lot of information I will be curious to read more about, especially Arendt´s involvement on behalf of various interwar Zionist organisations, which I am only vaguely familiar with.

Curious to explore more graphic novels with a philosophical topic, I continued with an account of Sartre´s life, adventures and philosophical stances. In parallel, her lifelong companion, Simone de Beauvoir, is also featured, but she is relatively kept in his shadow - which is often who their relationship dynamic is present in various literary accounts. The novel is long, with a poetic vein and a good writing pace, but felt sometimes lost between existentialist discussions and love escapes. Maybe because Sartre was exactly so?

 As I struggle to return to my travel writing - both in terms of writer´s block as of reinserting travel back into my daily routine after a terrible year from all the non-travel points of view, books like Bangalore suit perfectly my rehab. A graphic novel based on the author´s 3-year experience in the city, it explores through black and white graphics the busy life, around various times of the day, customs and its people. It is a visual testimony which combines both the visual and the written word and I hope to find out more such books soon for a helpful hand in my struggle to return to a curious life on the road.