In praise of nature and art
UNDER $20
Poet, demon, prophet, artist—all the labels apply, but none will adhere to William Blake (1757-1827). The wild-eyed precursor of romanticism disdained organized religion and mocked rigid science. He was his own martyr, church and congregation, his own teacher, pupil and school. Blake's art and poetry only seem naive; in fact they are so dense with nuance and implication that each generation must interpret them anew. The modern reader can have no better introduction to the oeuvre than Milton Klonsky's William Blake: The Seer and His Visions (Harmony Books; 142 pages; $12 hardcover, $6.95 paper). Excerpts of poetry and prophecy mingle with hundreds of illustrations, including 32 plates in the colors of Blake's inimitable palette. Klonsky provides a text informed with psychological insight and charged with emotion. It fully ratifies the master's celebrated dictum: "Energy is Eternal Delight."
Cartoons are the laughingstock of journalism; they are not a long-term investment. Put between covers, the illustrations and captions seem prematurely aged and irrelevant. This year three exceptions prove that rule. George Price's angular eccentrics have been celebrated for 45 years; his latest work, Browse at Your Own Risk (Simon & Schuster; 128 pages; $7.95), is aptly titled. The risk is seizures of mirth that render the reader helpless. Price's pen and punch line are, as always, off the wall: "My mother doesn't even bother to come to the games," complains one halfback as he watches an old lady buck the line. Explains a widow to friends: "He didn't really die of anything. He was a hypochondriac." Nonsense. He probably died of laughter looking at Price's lunatic -fringework.
Charles Saxon's One Man's Fancy (Dodd, Mead; unpaged; $10.95) is a collage of upwardly mobile Americana. "Is it Manet or Monet who isn't as good as the other?" asks a culture-hungry matron. A father holds his little girl's hand: "What did you learn in school today?" She shows him: an over-the-shoulder judo throw.
The man who chooses such work is Lee Lorenz, cartoon editor of The New Yorker. In Now Look What You've Done (Pantheon; unpaged; $7.95), Lorenz employs little of Saxon's architectural draftsmanship or Price's mirth-shaking slapstick. But in the right mood, he can quote anything out of context for hilarious effect. Outside the witch's gingerbread house a sign reads: THIS STRUCTURE WILL BE TORN DOWN AND REPLACED BY A NEW 44-STORY COOKIE. The back of Santa Claus' sleigh bears the bumper stickers REGISTER COMMUNISTS, NOT FIREARMS! and LET'S GET THE U.S. OUT OF THE U.N. "That's funny," observes a lady as he goads his reindeer skyward. "For some reason, I always thought of him as a liberal."