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Arsène Schrauwen #1-3
Arsène Schrauwen
In 1947, the author s grandfather, Arsene Schrauwen, traveled across the ocean to a mysterious, dangerous jungle colony at the behest of his cousin. Together they would build something deemed impossible: a modern utopia in the wilderness but not before Arsene falls in love with his cousin s wife, Marieke. Whether delirious from love or a fever-inducing jungle virus, Arsene s loosening grip on reality is mirrored by the graphic novel reader s uncertainty of what is imagined or real by Arsene. This first full-length graphic novel from the critically-acclaimed Olivier Schrauwen is an engrossing, sometimes funny, slightly surreal and often beautiful narrative."
250 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2014
31 people are currently reading
1206 people want to read
About the author
Olivier Schrauwen
19 books185 followersOlivier Schrauwen is a Belgian cartoonist and musician, currently based in Berlin.
Schrauwen was born in 1977 in Bruges, a city in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. He studied animation at the Academy of Art in Gent, then obtained a master degree in comics at the 'École superieure des Art Saint-Luc' in Brussels.
His works include the surreal Arsène Schrauwen (2014), the six sci-fi stories collected in Parallel Lives (2018), the pirate story Portrait of a Drunk (2019) in collaboration with French cartoonists Ruppert and Mulot, and his slice-of-life magnum opus Sunday (2024).
Schrauwen was born in 1977 in Bruges, a city in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. He studied animation at the Academy of Art in Gent, then obtained a master degree in comics at the 'École superieure des Art Saint-Luc' in Brussels.
His works include the surreal Arsène Schrauwen (2014), the six sci-fi stories collected in Parallel Lives (2018), the pirate story Portrait of a Drunk (2019) in collaboration with French cartoonists Ruppert and Mulot, and his slice-of-life magnum opus Sunday (2024).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
July 4, 2020
On the surface it would appear this pretty remarkable book is a biography of the author's grandfather. It can't be literally true, as much of it appears to take place as dream/fantasy or fantasies of various kinds. It's beautifully and uniquely drawn and as a story sometimes ominous, sometimes funny, with a central focus on Arsene's obsession on his cousin's wife, which is kind of hilarious.
Some colonialist excursion takes place in dreamlike fashion, a trip into a foreign land. It is for me a commentary on the art of biography itself, the impossibility of knowing one's grandparents (or anyone) in any meaningful fashion at all, especially those who lived their lives a long time ago, whose stories come to us in fragments, reported by our parents and other relatives. We have to make things up, we have to fictionalize, of course, though ALL of this tale may be fiction, as far as I know. Much of this is, for sure, including Oliver's presumptions about what his grandfather was thinking and saying.
It reminds me in a way of the crazy magical films of Werner Herzog, only more surreal, less grounded in something like "the human spirit". Funnier than Herzog, maybe. It's a fascinating read, long and ambitious. Very beautiful artifact, this book production. Surreal in its overall effects. "Kafkaesque" is a cliche, but fits. He's in Kafka's club, that's for sure. This sticks with me. It for my tastes is one of the best graphic novels ever, which is quite a claim considering the author is still a young man.
Some colonialist excursion takes place in dreamlike fashion, a trip into a foreign land. It is for me a commentary on the art of biography itself, the impossibility of knowing one's grandparents (or anyone) in any meaningful fashion at all, especially those who lived their lives a long time ago, whose stories come to us in fragments, reported by our parents and other relatives. We have to make things up, we have to fictionalize, of course, though ALL of this tale may be fiction, as far as I know. Much of this is, for sure, including Oliver's presumptions about what his grandfather was thinking and saying.
It reminds me in a way of the crazy magical films of Werner Herzog, only more surreal, less grounded in something like "the human spirit". Funnier than Herzog, maybe. It's a fascinating read, long and ambitious. Very beautiful artifact, this book production. Surreal in its overall effects. "Kafkaesque" is a cliche, but fits. He's in Kafka's club, that's for sure. This sticks with me. It for my tastes is one of the best graphic novels ever, which is quite a claim considering the author is still a young man.
February 13, 2015
Imperialism! Love! Beer! Homoeroticism! Hypersexual leopardpeople! Tenacious native bacteria that turn you into a human cauliflower! Unwanted pregnancies! Visionary architecture! Old money! Insanity! Youthful boners! A cool red-and-blue vintage funnies look!
I did not pause two weeks to start reading the next section.
I did not pause two weeks to start reading the next section.
April 27, 2015
Despite the deceptively simple, sketchy line quality here, Schrauwen packs an incredible amount of visual and narrative sophistication into this. Conceptual layouts, odd color interplays, shifting internal and external realities, and a complex system of recurring motifs, visual storytelling rules re-written and refurbished to suit various and ever-evolving cryptic purposes. There's very little like this out there right now.
July 3, 2020
I've really been trying to rethink how to assess imperial narratives focused on imperialists without immediately writing it off as romancing genocide. It's a struggle, and the reason I couldn't make it past the first few pages of Cloud Atlas despite numerous recs by [white] friends. Here in Arsene Schrauwen I feel like the narrative works not as an endorsement of imperial projects, European occupation of the Congo in this case, but as a chronicle of how bumbling men accrue power through their kairotic presence. One artistic choice Olivier Schrauwen makes that supports this reading is the anonymity of almost everyone's identity in the narrative through featureless faces until they become humanized by Arsene.
Additionally, the book never attempts to portray Arsene as a man in control of anything, not even his bowels. His main asset is his blood relation to a true innovator, a queer man married into wealth to a woman who near the end undergoes a personality change through violent means. This is my first encounter with Schrauwen's work after years of seeing his stuff receive acclaim, and I had long stayed away from it because European comics are often able to get away with racist narratives passed off as charming. Schrauwen seems to be doing something else here. Not quite condemnation, but something like a satire of pulp exploration narratives. The book's surreal quality makes me uncertain of even that much, and I'm excited to read others' thoughtful critiques of this book.
Additionally, the book never attempts to portray Arsene as a man in control of anything, not even his bowels. His main asset is his blood relation to a true innovator, a queer man married into wealth to a woman who near the end undergoes a personality change through violent means. This is my first encounter with Schrauwen's work after years of seeing his stuff receive acclaim, and I had long stayed away from it because European comics are often able to get away with racist narratives passed off as charming. Schrauwen seems to be doing something else here. Not quite condemnation, but something like a satire of pulp exploration narratives. The book's surreal quality makes me uncertain of even that much, and I'm excited to read others' thoughtful critiques of this book.
February 5, 2025
Still my favorite Flemish comic!
See my review here:
https://youtu.be/Kz8BkHBYc5k
See my Top 40 "Nieuwe Vlaamse Strip" here:
https://youtu.be/Ol7s0k5wIgk
October 11, 2015
Opnieuw een Schrauwen in grote doen. Absurd kolonisatieverhaal, met felle knipogen naar onze bloedkoning Leopold II en het broeierige universum vol waanzin van Joseph Conrad, versterkt door erg knappe grafiek en schrandere paginaschikking. Schrauwen wordt een hele grote, zeg dat ik het gezegd heb. Toegegeven, ik heb niet een week of twee weken gewacht om verder te lezen, zoals tot 2 keer toe gevraagd op een tussenblad.
April 5, 2017
Two weeks?! I can't wait two weeks! Oh, come on, Olivier...
June 14, 2020
Uno de los cómics más creativos, inteligentes y fascinantes que he leído en los últimos años.
A mi juicio en un punto intermedio perfecto entre experimentación y academia.
Como ya es costumbre, maravillosa traducción y edición de Fulgencio Pimentel.
A mi juicio en un punto intermedio perfecto entre experimentación y academia.
Como ya es costumbre, maravillosa traducción y edición de Fulgencio Pimentel.
December 19, 2021
I'm teetering between 2 and 3 stars for this as found it to be quite overlong and some of the pages didn't really work that well, maybe it was the blue colouring for the more densely drawn sequences, didn't really capture my eye that well. Also the art style is cool but seen it done better by other artists. The subject of the book is basically that colonialists were stupid, privileged arseholes, which is hardly educational, though there's some funny moments in the book which is just Arsene obliviously coasting along, not really caring about the fact that he doesn't even have to do a job once in the whole thing. Maybe they could have called it Arsehole Schrauwen (poor joke, sorry).
January 13, 2015
Feverish and confounding, like being trapped inside the belly of whatever beast slouched towards empire.
September 26, 2021
The creativity of this book is off the charts.
May 3, 2016
Een paar losse herinneringen, een handjevol feiten uit de familiale overlevering en zijn nooit aflatende verbeeldingsmotor: meer had tekenaar Olivier Schrauwen niet nodig om de striproman van het jaar te verzinnen.
In ‘Arsène Schrauwen’ focust hij op de fictieve tropengeschiedenis van zijn grootvader langs moederskant, een vitaal jongmens dat in 1947, op uitnodiging van zijn neef Roger Desmet, aanmeert in een niet nader genoemde Afrikaanse kolonie. Terwijl neef Desmet een monstermaquette bouwt voor een megalomane stad in de jungle, raakt Arsène – hij verblijft in een bungalow die door een mysterieuze boy rijkelijk van trappist en verse eieren wordt voorzien – verstrikt in zijn gedachten en angsten, alsook in heftige amoureuze gevoelens voor Desmets echtgenote Marieke; een cocktail die ’m gestaag richting waanzin drijft. Maar dan slaan de stoppen door bij Desmet zelf; Marieke promoveert Arsène tot expeditieleider, en samen leiden ze een karavaan naar de bouwsite, diep in het hart der duisternis.
Schrauwen hanteert een rauwe, minimale stijl, en dat in drie schakeringen blauw voor scènes die zich in schaduwrijk gebied afspelen, felrood voor scènes die loden hitte of dito lichaamswarmte veronderstellen. Zijn dialogen en commentaarstem zijn veelal zakelijk, maar ’t is koud bloed dat door een wild kloppend vertelhart stroomt. Schrauwen heeft bovendien lak aan genreconventies: hij serveert zonder verpinken een streepje homoporno, noopt de lezer op monkelende wijze tot bedachtzaam lezen (‘Gelieve een week te wachten alvorens verder te lezen,’ zo onderbreekt hij hoofdstuk 3, op de pagina erna luidt het: ‘Bedankt voor het wachten’), rijgt gruwel aan hilariteit en geeft banale voorvallen gezwind een kosmische dimensie.
‘Arsène Schrauwen’ is een heerlijk ziek jongensboek, gesproten uit het koorts-moeras van een vitale geest.
In ‘Arsène Schrauwen’ focust hij op de fictieve tropengeschiedenis van zijn grootvader langs moederskant, een vitaal jongmens dat in 1947, op uitnodiging van zijn neef Roger Desmet, aanmeert in een niet nader genoemde Afrikaanse kolonie. Terwijl neef Desmet een monstermaquette bouwt voor een megalomane stad in de jungle, raakt Arsène – hij verblijft in een bungalow die door een mysterieuze boy rijkelijk van trappist en verse eieren wordt voorzien – verstrikt in zijn gedachten en angsten, alsook in heftige amoureuze gevoelens voor Desmets echtgenote Marieke; een cocktail die ’m gestaag richting waanzin drijft. Maar dan slaan de stoppen door bij Desmet zelf; Marieke promoveert Arsène tot expeditieleider, en samen leiden ze een karavaan naar de bouwsite, diep in het hart der duisternis.
Schrauwen hanteert een rauwe, minimale stijl, en dat in drie schakeringen blauw voor scènes die zich in schaduwrijk gebied afspelen, felrood voor scènes die loden hitte of dito lichaamswarmte veronderstellen. Zijn dialogen en commentaarstem zijn veelal zakelijk, maar ’t is koud bloed dat door een wild kloppend vertelhart stroomt. Schrauwen heeft bovendien lak aan genreconventies: hij serveert zonder verpinken een streepje homoporno, noopt de lezer op monkelende wijze tot bedachtzaam lezen (‘Gelieve een week te wachten alvorens verder te lezen,’ zo onderbreekt hij hoofdstuk 3, op de pagina erna luidt het: ‘Bedankt voor het wachten’), rijgt gruwel aan hilariteit en geeft banale voorvallen gezwind een kosmische dimensie.
‘Arsène Schrauwen’ is een heerlijk ziek jongensboek, gesproten uit het koorts-moeras van een vitale geest.
March 19, 2015
Is this a celebration or a damnation of colonialist fervor? Is it intentionally primitive or awkwardly so? Is it a love story or an architectural review? A bit of all of these things, really. A mixing of a true story (probably? maybe?) with visual realizations of the lurid and surreal undercurrents of meaning that flow through that story. Though I give it four stars, it is still very much in my "hipster comeeks" category, meant to impress and encapsulate a certain ironic/smug view of the weird and wonderful world -- which is a colonialist attitude in its own way. Regardless, interesting, intricate, lasting stuff, especially about the winding expedition deeper and deeper into the jungle.
But seriously, why are there so many snobbish/surrealist comics about architecture? And why have I read so many of them in the last few months. I guess a visual medium is a good way to explore visual entities. Duhhh. :)
But seriously, why are there so many snobbish/surrealist comics about architecture? And why have I read so many of them in the last few months. I guess a visual medium is a good way to explore visual entities. Duhhh. :)
November 24, 2019
Una gozada de cómic, una historia onírica y narrada de un modo muy original. ¿Es cierto lo que cuenta sobre su abuelo? Es lo de menos. No sé dónde leí que el motivo de que esté enteramente hecho usando dos tintas, roja y azul, era que al principio el autor se autopublicó usando una máquina que solo podía imprimir en bitono. Una limitación que podría ser un fastidio Schrauwen la convierte en un elemento expresivo de primera. Y así todo. Cómo me gustaría estar en la cabeza de este hombre cuando toma decisiones creativas.
April 8, 2016
A lovely story about a very simple Flemish man who embarks on a trip to the colonies. There, he gets entangled in the construction of 'Freedomville', a sort of Western art city in the middle of the jungle. Good plot, nice execution. The dry humour and the lovely drawings add up to a very rewarding graphic novel. And the book itself is quite beautiful as well - stylish but simple. As it should be.
Read
December 15, 2018I really ought to have reviewed this, but the time slipped away. Anyway, it's excellent. I read it in the midst of that terrible time when I had virtually no time for any self-selected reading, when the most I could muster was a few hours for graphic-novel viewing. But it brightened a couple of days for me, and reminded me that art exists.
March 24, 2023
Brian Nicholson's review of the work is well written. http://www.tcj.com/reviews/arsene-sch...
February 5, 2020
The colonial romance of Out of Africa meets the colonial adventure of Heart of Darkness meets the colonial decadence of Zama.
December 28, 2022
Esta novela gráfica, es la biografía de Arsene Schrauwen, abuelo del autor Olivier Schrauwen. Arsene, el abuelo, sale en barco desde Bélgica a la colonia para encontrarse con su primo Roger Desmet. Es el año 1947. No se especifica a qué colonia va, pero parece ser el Congo belga. En el barco empiezan a sucederle aventuras y le informan de los peligros de la colonia. Cuando llega a la colonia, encuentra la casa de su primo y conoce a la esposa de este, Marieke, una mujer muy atractiva. Se hospeda en un bungalow y allí, se la pasa bebiendo trapenses (cervezas) y fumando. Vive como en un hotel, en la abundancia, sin trabajar. Sin embargo, la comida no es muy buena. le agobia lo que le han contado sobre la infección de los gusanos elefantes, y se protege llegando a situaciones muy cómicas. Roger le da a conocer sus proyectos para la colonia. El abuelo por circunstancias accidentales se convierte en el nuevo director del proyecto de construcción de la ciudad ideada por su primo. Sin embargo, su irresponsabilidad como director llevará a accidentes y aventuras peligrosas.
No he leído muchas novelas gráficas, pero esta biografía me ha gustado mucho. Los dibujos no están muy elaborados, son muy sencillos, pero los personales principales están muy bien caracterizados. El abuelo es un pasea trapense, siembre con el cigarrillo en la boca y la trapense en la mano. Casi todas las viñetas se han pintado en una gama de dos colores: diferentes tonos de azul marino y de granates. Muchas de las situaciones que se dan son verdaderamente surrealistas. El mundo tropical está muy bien recreado.
La edición en un único volumen está muy bien realizada. He comprobado algún detalle que habría que mejorar, en la página 210 no aparece el texto de las viñetas, o puede que no lleven texto y en la página 252 el texto de las viñetas no está traducido. Por lo demás la edición es preciosa. Toda la novela gráfica está en un único volumen, ya que anteriormente se publicó en varios tomos.
No he leído muchas novelas gráficas, pero esta biografía me ha gustado mucho. Los dibujos no están muy elaborados, son muy sencillos, pero los personales principales están muy bien caracterizados. El abuelo es un pasea trapense, siembre con el cigarrillo en la boca y la trapense en la mano. Casi todas las viñetas se han pintado en una gama de dos colores: diferentes tonos de azul marino y de granates. Muchas de las situaciones que se dan son verdaderamente surrealistas. El mundo tropical está muy bien recreado.
La edición en un único volumen está muy bien realizada. He comprobado algún detalle que habría que mejorar, en la página 210 no aparece el texto de las viñetas, o puede que no lleven texto y en la página 252 el texto de las viñetas no está traducido. Por lo demás la edición es preciosa. Toda la novela gráfica está en un único volumen, ya que anteriormente se publicó en varios tomos.
July 24, 2025
wowza, very good. grandpa go freakystyle on some trees...definitely more boners depicted than i expected.
i found interesting the themes of the unknowability of the past, and thereby the unknowability of the self. if it's impossible to comprehend the past that created us, how can we grasp the present that shapes us and predict the future we will cause?
i also liked the omission of visual detail used as a storytelling device.
btw, leopardman go freakystyle on guttermouth -- just so you know ...
i found interesting the themes of the unknowability of the past, and thereby the unknowability of the self. if it's impossible to comprehend the past that created us, how can we grasp the present that shapes us and predict the future we will cause?
i also liked the omission of visual detail used as a storytelling device.
btw, leopardman go freakystyle on guttermouth -- just so you know ...
June 11, 2025
!! me ha encantado
February 5, 2016
This is a comic about Arsene, love, architecture, freedom, nothing, and bs-artistry, just to name a few topics listed by the author. The author definitely uses his artistic liberty to fill in the gaps of his grandfather's life, creating a strange, yet beautifully crafted graphic novel. The illustrations are done in such a creative way, playing with perspective, design, and color in ways I have not seen before. However, as I delve in to the world of graphic novels and the sometimes absurdly strange story lines, I'm not sure if I actually enjoy them or am generally just amused by the artistry. Overall, I think I can say I enjoyed this as I loved the style, but I'm starting to realize that some graphic novels might be too strange for my tastes.
March 2, 2018
hard to overstate how cool-looking this is, inside and out. not just the rad use of two colors but also o. schrauwen's bent sensibility of how to surprise the reader with the movement of panels, the layering, the blend of precision and mess, the recurring moments where arsène becomes a donkey smoking a cigarette. the story of this starts pretty thin and only gets thinner, but the loopy action never gets in the way. even when crazy leopard men kidnap the belgians and do sex acts on them. I wouldn't have minded some reflection on Belgian presence in Africa but this is not really a political book, for better or worse. PS I actually heeded the books insistence on taking week long breaks while reading
September 12, 2016
The stuff of masterpieces, proper.
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Doubt I will ever read anything else quite like it, in this lifetime at least.
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#fire
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Doubt I will ever read anything else quite like it, in this lifetime at least.
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#fire
February 25, 2023
Está por debajo de un 4 estrellas, pero mucho más alejado de las tres. Así que merece las cuatro. El relato se me antojó intrascendental, aunque una buena reflexión posterior acierta a ver, entre el humor y el absurdo, el poder de la juventud, el descubrimiento sexual, la imprudencia deliciosa.....aaaah! Qué poderosa te sientes cuando tu libro vital apenas lleva un par de capítulos!! Son tantas las posibilidades y te parece tanto el tiempo que te falta!! Tomas decisiones, quién sabe si acertadas, con la confianza de quien cree tener mucho camino por andar, y muchos atajos por explorar. Te presentas al mundo con tu ignorancia y desconcierto, que otros toman por seguridad e inteligencia, y estás dando palos de ciego, pero resulta!!
Los trozos de vida de nuestros antepasados, son trozos de vida nuestros.
Reconozco una narrativa extraordinariamente original, sus recursos me cautivan por momentos, sus viñetas tienen movimiento, las ideas más íntimas se materializan en imágenes sin censura, su humor es fantástico.
Los trozos de vida de nuestros antepasados, son trozos de vida nuestros.
Reconozco una narrativa extraordinariamente original, sus recursos me cautivan por momentos, sus viñetas tienen movimiento, las ideas más íntimas se materializan en imágenes sin censura, su humor es fantástico.
February 28, 2024
Meesterlijk gebracht verhaal over menselijke overmoed en idiotie, gelinkt aan wellicht de grootste schandvlek in de geschiedenis van ons land en een (fictief?) persoonlijk verhaal waardoor het veel dichter bij onze generatie wordt gebracht.
Ook visueel is dit verbluffend, niet alleen omdat verschillende pagina's heel creatief met dit medium omspringen, maar ook omdat de minimalistische stijl heel goed aansluit bij de ontmenselijking die getoond wordt.
Het is niet eenvoudig om absurditeit en leegheid in een verhaal te brengen dat zelf niet gaat vervelen. Humor werkt hier bijzonder goed voor, zoals een Kurt Vonnegut ook toepast, om dit zwaarmoedige verhaal over te laten komen als een eenvoudig avontuur (wat het in de ogen van het hoofdpersonage ook was).
Ook visueel is dit verbluffend, niet alleen omdat verschillende pagina's heel creatief met dit medium omspringen, maar ook omdat de minimalistische stijl heel goed aansluit bij de ontmenselijking die getoond wordt.
Het is niet eenvoudig om absurditeit en leegheid in een verhaal te brengen dat zelf niet gaat vervelen. Humor werkt hier bijzonder goed voor, zoals een Kurt Vonnegut ook toepast, om dit zwaarmoedige verhaal over te laten komen als een eenvoudig avontuur (wat het in de ogen van het hoofdpersonage ook was).
April 22, 2018
Decepcionoume un pouco, porque xa lera a primeira parte hai un par de anos e sorprendérame. O debuxo e a maneira de narrar é moi diferente a calquera outro cómic que lera antes; parece que o autor se propuxese facer un cómic como se fose o primeiro en intentalo e tivese que inventarse unha linguaxe desde cero. Iso é extraordinario, pero crea unha espectativa que para min só cumpre en parte. O mellor: esa estrañeza que se estende ao relato, como se fosen os delirios dalguén que sofre febres tropicais. O peor: é moi probable que esqueza o argumento pasado mañá, porque non hai nada nel que me pareza memorable.
February 10, 2022
A unique take on a well trodden-over genre in the medium (the memoir/family biography), the fantastical elements of this historical narrative work in conjunction with Schrauwen's distinct artistic style to elevate an off-kilter story.
April 29, 2018
Amazing artworks and tremendously inventive events with fabulous squirts of comedy
December 5, 2022
Read this in a swedish translation and definitely didn’t stop where breaks were suggested. This was a derealisation in a both horrifying and fantastic way! Very impressive visual storytelling
Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews