{"product_id":"what-am-i-doing-here-isbn-9781681370491","title":"What Am I Doing Here?","description":"\u003ci\u003eWhat Am I Doing Here?\u003c\/i\u003e is a startling masterwork by one of the forgotten innovators of American comics.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1945, after more than a decade as a commercial illustrator—drawing advertisements and cartoons for \u003ci\u003eLife\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEsquire\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/i\u003e, and many other publications—Abner Dean invented a genre all his own: One might call it the Existential Gag Cartoon. He used the elegant draftsmanship and single-panel format of the standard cartoons of the day, but turned them to a deeper, stranger purpose. With an inimitable mixture of wit, earnestness, and enigmatic surrealism, Dean uses this most ephemeral of forms to explore the deepest mysteries of human existence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhat Am I Doing Here?\u003c\/i\u003e, Dean’s second book and perhaps his best, depicts a world at once alien and familiar, in which everyone is naked but acts like they’re clothed—a world of club-wielding commuters and byzantine inventions, secret fears and perverse satisfactions. Through it all strolls (or crawls, or floats, or stumbles) Dean’s unclad Everyman, searching for love, happiness, and the answers to life’s biggest questions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis NYRC edition is a jacketed hardcover with extra-thick paper, and features brand-new, restored scans of the original artwork throughout.“A real mind-bender.” —Scott McCloud\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Mr. Dean is a great man. He has adapted a modern pictorial form to satire which has the flavor of Hogarth and Rabelais, the implications of Tibetan mysticism, and the hilarity of James Thurber.\" —\u003ci\u003eSaturday Review  \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Beautifully drawn, thought provoking works of art...For Dean, the combination of image and text could stimulate a wide range of intellectual and emotional responses: delight, frustration, provocation, bewilderment, sadness, or illumination. “ —\u003ci\u003eThe Comics Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Whether Dean’s conceptions are readily seized is a question for the individual, who should have a good time finding out.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[Dean’s] best have a disturbingly haunting quality that one rarely finds in the more realistic captioned cartoons of the New Yorker school, and in fact are ‘funny’ only to the extent of making one giggle hysterically.” \u003ci\u003e—Northrop Frye\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbner Dean \u003c\/b\u003e(1910–1982) was born and lived in New York City. He spent his career working as a commercial illustrator and, starting with \u003ci\u003eIt’s a Long Way to Heaven\u003c\/i\u003e in 1945, published seven collections of his cartooning work, including \u003ci\u003eWhat Am I Doing Here?\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCome As You Are\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eCave Drawings of the Future\u003c\/i\u003e.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eClifton Fadiman\u003c\/b\u003e (1904–1999) was a renowned essayist, critic, and anthologist, and was  awarded the 1993 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished  Contribution to American Letters.","brand":"New York Review Comics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46299754528997,"sku":"NP9781681370491","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781681370491.jpg?v=1767743795","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/what-am-i-doing-here-isbn-9781681370491","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}