Graphic novel form of Paradise Lost

March 15, 2005 12:14 PM

I am intrigued by Paradise Lost, but looking over it quickly in the bookstore … well it looks hard. Is there a nice graphic novel version which will gradually ease me into it?
posted by shothotbot to media & arts (15 comments total)

not exactly an answer,

but I am taking an evening class on Milton this semester and my professor declared that reading it out loud is the best way to process the epic poem.

so our class read the entire poem round robin style two weeks ago - it took nine and a half hours, but it worked.

I have to say that the imagery in the poem would lend itself really well to a graphic novel however and I'd love to know if one exists.

sorry this doesn't answer your question directly, but if no one comes up with an answer I can e-mail my prof and see if he knows.
posted by Julnyes at 12:19 PM on March 15, 2005

It's really not that hard once you get going. It is a bit of a page turner, really. If you read it for pleasure rather than in class I recommend an annotated version as Milton makes a lot of interesting references which might go unnoticed otherwise.
posted by caddis at 12:45 PM on March 15, 2005

Skip all those words and just look at Gustav Dore's illustrations. It's like a graphic novel, but old school.
posted by Guy Smiley at 12:58 PM on March 15, 2005

Here is a summary and discussion of the work.
posted by caddis at 1:05 PM on March 15, 2005

It is not a graphic novel but there is The Tale Of Paradise Lost, Retold by Nancy Willard. It helped ease me into Paradise Lost - it can be done!
posted by MLIS at 1:12 PM on March 15, 2005

I'm not familiar with it at all, but one of my students likes Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman: Season of Mists," and says that Book 4 draws on Paradise Lost--not sure how closely at all.

I also recommend giving Milton's poem itself a try. Give yourself time for two readings if you can, perhaps spread out over the course of a few months. This is a great, great poem--trust me. You'll really find yourself caught up in the human drama of it, and might be surprised by the views of both God and Satan that it presents.
posted by Pattie at 1:15 PM on March 15, 2005

Here is another good site, which also discusses a version made into a novel. It appears a little easier to read, but you will miss some of the beauty of the original. (on preview - this appears to be different from the work cited by MLIS)
posted by caddis at 1:17 PM on March 15, 2005

I've read the prose version caddis links to. It's okay, but I'm a Milton wonk and preferred the original. I'd recommend the poem with some annotation to help you through.

No graphic novels that I know of, though. I've always thought Paradise Lost would make a great anime, though.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 2:01 PM on March 15, 2005

Also, the fantastic "children's" books His Dark Materials draw much inspiration from Paradise Lost.
posted by papercake at 2:08 PM on March 15, 2005

I also have no graphic novel reccomendations, but must instead point you to one of Milton's many visual interpreters: William Blake.

I also recommend the Norton Critical Edition of Paradise Lost. You can take or leave the supplemental essays as your critical whim dictates, but the footnotes help a great deal with allusions and bits of difficult language. But by all means, do read the poem itself. It is too beautiful on its own.
posted by Verdant at 2:14 PM on March 15, 2005

I just want to add that Paradise Lost is a gorgeous poem and although I'm sure great art could be inspired by it, you can't replace the experience of reading the original. If you find a graphic novel of it, that will be a totally different piece of art.

Also, I know different people find different things harder/easier, but I did not find Milton difficult. It flows really nicely and is just full of so much image and meaning, and - well, action. You just have to give yourself the time and space to really get into it, not just skim over the words to 'get the idea'. Reading aloud could work, or just making sure you have the environment and free time to really get engrossed.
posted by mdn at 2:30 PM on March 15, 2005

Haven't seen a graphic novel (I'd love to see Frank Miller do it!), but I'd second Julnyes suggestion. Rather than reading it out loud yourself, you could find an audiobook copy by Anton Lesser.

I second Verdant's suggestion of the Norton Critical Edition, and also recommend "Asimov's Annotated Paradise Lost" to read along with the CD.
posted by Marky at 2:36 PM on March 15, 2005

I second the audiobook idea. Go to a secondary source if you get confused, but try the epic itself. It's worth the struggle.
posted by honeydew at 4:02 PM on March 15, 2005

After you polish off Paradise Lost, you might want to try Dante's Inferno. It is the ultimate journey through Hell.
posted by caddis at 5:21 PM on March 15, 2005

Prose summaries may not help that much. It's not the plot that's tricky; you know most of it already. It's the language. Milton wrote enormously long sentences, with the verb often coming at the end; they're easy to get lost in. The answer is to watch the sentence carefully: what's the verb? And what's its subject?

And, more importantly, as others have said, read it out loud to yourself. My teacher said Paradise Lost is the second most oral work in English, the first being Finnegans Wake (over which Paradise Lost has the advantage of being, er, in English.)

The difference between reading it and reading it out loud is like--well, the difference in impact between watching a porn movie and just reading the script. Milton was blind, and actually spoke the poem (dictated it) rather than writing it. There's a deep rhythm that doesn't come across unless you say it--and bellow and whisper and purr it--out loud.
posted by Polonius at 8:13 PM on March 15, 2005