Here's the text of an interview of Robert Crumb discussing the book on NPR radio --
'Genesis': R. Crumb Illustrates The Bible .
Snippet:
"NEAL CONAN, host:
This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington.
R. Crumb may still be best known as one of the fathers of underground comics like "Zap" and "Despair," for characters like Mr. Natural, Devil Girl and Fritz the Cat. But his latest project may change all that. He spent the past several years in an ambitious effort to illustrate the book of "Genesis," and he leaves nothing out, all 50 chapters from Eden to Egypt with every single begat.
Those who remember their Bible will recall there's a lot of sex and violence in "Genesis." That's in there, too. This edition recommends adult supervision for minors. The approach is neither satirical nor subversive, but given the material, it's almost certain to draw charges from irreverence to blasphemy. If you want to talk with R. Crumb about this project, his signature style or his body of work, give us a call: 800-989-8255. Email us:
[email protected]. You can also join the conversation on our Web site. That's at npr.org. Click on TALK OF THE NATION.
We know R. Crumb has plenty of fans out there. He knows that, too. So with that in mind, we'd really like your questions. Later this hour, the first marriage. Jodi Kantor joins us to talk about her cover story on the Obamas in yesterday's New York Times Magazine.
But first, R. Crumb and "The Book of Genesis Illustrated." Robert Crumb joins us now from a studio at KQED, our member station in San Francisco. And it's great to have you today on TALK OF THE NATION.
Mr. ROBERT CRUMB (Comic Book Writer, Illustrator): Hey.
CONAN: First thing I wanted to say is thank you. It's been a long time, I realized, since I had read the book of "Genesis," and it's a wild story.
Mr. CRUMB: From Eden to Egypt - I wish I'd thought of that. That's a great cover line - from Eden to Egypt. Damn.
CONAN: You can have it at no charge.
Mr. CRUMB: Too late now.
CONAN: Well, maybe the paperback.
Mr. CRUMB: I was listening to the little preview blurb that was told about me before, like, a few minutes ago.
CONAN: Mm-hmm.
Mr. CRUMB: And it talked - it quoted me saying something about how crazy the Bible was.
CONAN: Yeah.
Mr. CRUMB: Where is that from, that quote? Where did I say that?
CONAN: I think that's from the news conference you had in Paris.
Mr. CRUMB: Ooh, boy. That's going to get me killed.
(Soundbite of laughter)
CONAN: It is. But these are amazing stories that are being told in the book of "Genesis."
Mr. CRUMB: Yes, they are. And that's why I decided just to do a straight illustration job, because the stories themselves are so strange that it doesn't need satirizing. It doesn't need, you know, making fun of or taking off on or anything. It just stands up on its own as a lurid, you know, comic book. So�
CONAN: A comic book. I'm not sure anybody would have said that before. There are�
Mr. CRUMB: It's a comic book.
(Soundbite of laughter)"
CONAN: Your definition of comic book is probably a little broader than most other people's.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. CRUMB: Well, comic books have many possibilities, you know. Comic books can illuminate a text, you know, break it down into panels, illustrate everything. And suddenly, it brings to light things that people might pass over in a - just in a written text, you know, that adding pictures is a whole other dimension. And yet it's not exactly like a movie, either. Because in movies, you have actors, and it's a whole other thing. So...
CONAN: I was fascinated - I'm sure other people are going to call with questions about why. I fascinated with how. This is a gigantic project. Even the�
Mr. CRUMB: Yes.
CONAN: �layout must have taken you a long time to figure out.
Mr. CRUMB: Four years.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. CRUMB: Four years of work.
CONAN: How did you decide to do it? How did you go about it?
Mr. CRUMB: Well, I started out - for years, I was playing around with this kind of satire of Adam and Eve. I did a lot of sketches and preliminary stuff, and I wasn't satisfied with it. So I decided, well, this story is so interesting on many levels in and of itself and lends itself to lurid illustration, I just decided to go ahead and do it straight. But then once I got into it, I realized I had taken on a huge task. You know, once I got past Adam and Eve, the flood and, you know, Sodom and Gomorrah, I thought, oh, my God. Now I'm in for it.
(Soundbite of laughter)