Culturebox: America's First Wordless Novelist

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books America's First Wordless Novelist Why are Lynd Ward's amazing woodcut books so bleak? By Sarah Boxer Posted Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010, at 8:01 AM ET Call me crazy. Flipping through the first wordless novel published in America, Gods' Man by Lynd Ward, which came out the week of the Great Crash of 1929, I kept thinking about Moby-Dick, one of the wordiest novels ever, illustrated the next year by Rockwell Kent. Yes, Gods' Man is Moby-Dick without the text, the subtleties, or the whaling, if you can picture that--a silent moral tale of a man warring with his soul. Told in 139 wood engravings, Gods' Man opens with a small, tempest-tossed skiff. The waves seem to talk or at least gesticulate. There's a calm after the storm. The solo sailor salutes sun and clouds, then draws the scene. (His paper stayed dry!) The boat's cleat behind him looks like a whale's tail on the horizon. Soon mast and rigging form a small Brooklyn Bridge pointing to a metropolis. (Yo, Hart Crane!) The Artistic Man walks ashore, portfolio in hand. A Dark Man in a top hat gives him a quick art history tour--Egyptian tomb artists to Van Gogh--to prove to him that every great artist had a magic pen/brush/gouge like the one he's offering. (Free, when you send us your soul.) Artistic Man trades soul for magic tool. Briefly finds fame and fortune. Learns women are whores. Retreats to the mountains and finds a Good Wife, who bears him an Artistic Child. Dark Man returns to collect. Artistic Man is torn from his Happy Home. Salutes Good Wife and Artistic Child. Sky darkens. Dark Man takes off top hat and mask. Is Death. To continue reading, click here. Sarah Boxer is the author of Ultimate Blogs and In the Floyd Archives: A Psycho-Bestiary. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Can Michelle's Popularity Rekindle the Obama 2008 Magic for the Midterms? Ahmadinejad's Visit to Lebanon Reveals the Country's Frightening Future What's the Difference Between an Article and a Blog Post? And Does Anyone Care?	Advertisement
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