Rekindled: Oscar Villalon in Conversation With Lisa Brown
On the Relief That Can Be Found in Irreverence
On this episode of Rekindled, Oscar Villalon, editor in chief of ZYZZYVA, speaks with author and illustrator Lisa Brown. Brown’s latest book is called Long Story Short: 100 Classic Books in Three Panels, in which she distills long classics (Proust, Madame Bovary, Jonathan Franzen, etc) into one easy-to-read comic panel each. Villalon and Brown talk about the snarkiness of comics, developing a palette for certain stories later in life, reading the most boring books in high school, and all the books Brown hates (Heart of Darkness, among others). Please purchase her book online from your local independent bookstore or through Bookshop.
From the episode:
Oscar Villalon: How did you come up with this take on the Story of Genesis? Or I should say, how did you come up with any of these takes on these books?
Lisa Brown: I think about what was obsessing me when I read it. What do I find most ridiculous at the heart of the book? So many books aren’t ridiculous, but so many are, especially in the Western canon. There are so many things I find ridiculous in the Old Testament, but I just love the Adam and Eve eating the apple story—there are not many talking animals in the Old Testament… so this is odd. This is a really odd story.
