Dante's Divine Comedy Adapted by Semour Chwast

I'm not quite sure what Seymour Chwast was trying to do with his adaptation of Dante's Divine Comedy. He's not trying to show his faith like Wolverton, and he's not trying to lay it all out on a plate like Crumb. Well, yes, his attempt does seem more similar to Crumb's. But without the labor put into the art. I mean, goddamn. This art is so simple it's... I was able to breeze through the book within an hour, the art was so simple. The dearth of text helped too.

So what was Chwast trying to do? Dumb it down and make a Divine Comedy for Dummies? His art does have a fun quality, and the humor he injects into the narrative through Detective Dante's comments do lighten the mood. It's definitely not Hell that he's illustrating--it's not nearly as depressing or horrifying as it should be. When I was in Florence, I remember picking up another illustrated copy of the Divine Comedy, by Gustave Doré. Masterful engravings. The cover illustration of thieves suffering punishment by serpents almost made me want to turn my head away (to be fair, after some experiences in Europe I do think some thieves deserve being tortured alive by snakes). But Doré's version was still rather boring (from what little I saw) and I put the book down after thumbing through a few pages.

Yeah Doré snakes! Punish those thieves for the wallet they took from my friend in Barcelona! I'd say punish those con artists in Barcelona too if they weren't burning somewhere else for fraud!

Were it Doré I might agree with Detective Dante. But since it's Chwast it might be sarcasm.

If you like snakes, feel free to steal all you want!

The art quality of Chwast is crude, simple, and a little pleasant. It reminds me of Evan Dahm's art for Rice Boy. But worse. Jules Feiffer is also brought to my mind, but Chwast's work isn't nearly as delightful as Feiffer's. In the end, I'm still wondering what was the point in Chwast's adaptation of The Divine Comedy.