The Contract With God Trilogy

Series · 4 books · 1978-2005

By Will Eisner

Books in series

A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories

1978

"Eisner was not only ahead of his times; the present times are still catching up to him." \-\-John Updike A revolutionary novel, A Contract with God re\-creates the neighbourhood of Will Eisner's youth through a quartet of four interwoven stories. Expressing the joy, exuberance, tragedy, and drama of life on the mythical Dropsie Avenue of the Bronx, A Contract with God is a monumental achievement, a must in the library of any graphic novel fan.

A Life Force

1987

“Eisner was not only ahead of his times; the present times are still catching up to him.”―John Updike Called “a masterpiece” by R. Crumb, A Life Force chronicles not only the Great Depression but also the rise of Nazism and the spread of socialist politics through the depiction of the protagonist, Jacob Shtarkah, whose existential search reflected Eisner’s own lifelong struggle.

Dropsie Avenue

The Neighborhood

1995

“Eisner was not only ahead of his times; the present times are still catching up to him.”―John Updike In Dropsie Avenue: The Neighborhood, Eisner graphically traces the social trajectory of this mythic avenue over four centuries, creating a sweeping panorama of the city and its waves of new residents, whose stories present an unending “story of life, death, and resurrection.”

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Contratto con Dio. La trilogia

2005

"Un contratto con Dio", pubblicata originariamente nel 1978 e qui riproposta con "A Life Force" e "Dropsie Avenue" in una trilogia voluta dall'editore americano W.W. Norton, con una serie di illustrazioni e una nuova introduzione scritta da Eisner per questa edizione. La storia che dà il titolo al volume si svolge - come tutte le altre - in un caseggiato del Bronx, famoso quartiere di New York, al numero 55 di Dropsie Avenue, negli anni della Grande Depressione, e racconta la vicenda di un ebreo osservante che perde la fede in Dio quando sua figlia muore. Momenti di vita di gente comune, spesso immigrati di prima generazione, culture e abitudini diverse prendono vita e forma nello scorrere delle tante storie che compongono il volume. Dolore e sofferenza ma anche gioia e speranza si incidono sulle pagine. Attingendo anche alla tradizione ebraica e al ricordo autobiografico della propria giovinezza a New York, Eisner compone una cronaca in forma di narrazione dell'esperienza di vita in America, dando voce al bene, al male e a quelle sfumature di grigio che spesso definiscono l'equilibrio tra le diverse forze in gioco.

Author

Will Eisner

Author · 18 books

Will Eisner was born on March 6, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. By the time of his death on January 3, 2005, Will Eisner was recognized internationally as one of the giants in the field of sequential art, a term he coined. In a career that spanned nearly eight decades—from the dawn of the comic book to the advent of digital comics - Will Eisner was truly the 'Father of the Graphic Novel' and the 'Orson Welles of Comics.' He broke new ground in the development of visual narrative and the language of comics and was the creator of The Spirit, John Law, Lady Luck, Mr. Mystic, Uncle Sam, Blackhawk, Sheena, and countless others. During World War II, Will Eisner used the comic format to develop training and equipment maintenance manuals for the US Army. After the war this continued as the Army's "PS Magazine" which is still being produced today. Will Eisner taught Sequential Art at the New York School of Visual Arts for 20 years. The textbooks that he wrote were based on his course and are still bestsellers. In 1978, Will Eisner wrote "A Contract with God," the first modern Graphic Novel. This was followed by almost 20 additional graphic novels over the following 25 years. The "Oscars" of the Comic Industry are called The Eisner Awards, and named after Will Eisner. The Eisners are presented annually before a packed ballroom at San Diego Comic-Con, America's largest comics convention. Wizard magazine named Eisner "the most influential comic artist of all time." Michael Chabon's Pulitzer-prize winning novel "Kavalier and Clay" is based in good part on Eisner. In 2002, Eisner received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Federation for Jewish Culture, presented by Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman.