Russ Kick, ed., The Graphic Canon: The World's Great Literature as Comics and Visuals [2012-3]
202 entries: 122 monographical, 80 otherwise
Unrankedarranged chronologically, except for nos. 1 and 36-38, included in the front matter of the first and second volumes, respectively, and nos. 71, 77, 81, and 122, randomly placed within the third volume
Publishers Weekly named The Graphic Canon the event of the year (2012, when the first and second volumes came out) in the realm of comic/ graphic/ sequential literature. If anything, this accolade is an understatement, as this project does not just offer its own list of great works of literaturespecifically referring to them as a canon, which many of our "great books" compilers decline to doit also offers excerpts from those books, those excerpts being interpretations of the works in a new medium. The quality of the visual work is at times remarkable; and the selection of works is diverse. More recently, the same editor has published The Graphic Canon of Children's Literature.
- William Shakespeare
Hamlet
1602English
--
- Sha Naqba Imuru
The Epic of Gilgamesh; He Who Saw the Deep
Eighteenth-Tenth centuries B CSumerian; Akkadian
'Coyote and the Pebbles'
illustrations by Micah Farritor; part of Trickster: Native American Tales, 2010, edited by Matt DembickiEnglish
Homer
- Iliad
ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B CGreek
- Odýsseia
The Odyssey
ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B CGreek
Poems
late Seventh-early Sixth centuries B CGreek
- Euripides
Mēdeia
Medea
431 B CGreek
- Aristophanes
Lysistrate
Lysistrata
411 B CGreek
--
part of the BibleHebrew; Aramaic; Greek
- Plato
Symposium
early Fourth Century B CGreek
- Lǎozǐ (Lao-tzu) (Laocius)
Dàodéjǐng
Tao te Ching
ca. Sixth Century B CChinese
- Vyasa
Mahabharata
includes Bhagavad Gita; ca. Ninth Century B C-Fourth CenturySanskrit
Confucius (Kǒng Zǐ) (Kǒng Fūzǐ) (K'ung Fu-tzu)
- Analects
Lún Yǔ
written and compiled by the author's pupils; ca. Fifth Century B C-Second CenturyChinese
refers to the Five Classics of Confucianism, which incorporate the teachings of Confucius; Sixth-early Fifth centuries B CChinese
--
part of the BibleHebrew; Aramaic; Greek
- Titus Lucretius Carus
De Rerum Natura
On the Nature of Things
First Century B CLatin
- Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro)
Aeneid
First Century B CLatin
--
part of the BibleHebrew; Aramaic; Greek
'Frontier Song'
part of Three Hundred Tang Poems, compiled by Sun Zhu ca. 1763Chinese
'A Village South of the Capital'
part of Three Hundred Tang Poems, compiled by Sun Zhu ca. 1763Chinese
'Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon'
part of Three Hundred Tang Poems, compiled by Sun Zhu ca. 1763Chinese
--
- Beowulf
ca. Eighth-Eleventh centuriesEnglish
- Murasaki Shikibu
Genji Monogatari
The Tale of Genji
ca. early Eleventh CenturyJapanese
- Pierre Abélard
Historia Calamitatum
written ca. 1132; includes the letters of Abélard and Héloïse d'ArgenteuilLatin
'O Nobilissima Viriditas'
part of Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum; Twelfth CenturyLatin
--
- Kitab alf Laylah Wa-Laylah [excerpted]
'The Fisherman and the Genie' and 'The Woman With Two Coyntes'; Ninth CenturyArabic
Poems
Thirteenth CenturyPersian
Dante
- La Divina Commedia
The Divine Comedy
originally entitled La Commedia; written ca. 1308-21Italian
part of La Divina Commedia; written ca. 1308-21Italian
- Padmasambhava
Bardo Thodol
The Tibetan Book of the Dead; Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State
ca. Eighth CenturyTibetan
'Ballade de Conclusion'
'The Last Ballad'
part of Le Grand Testament Villon et le Petit. Son Codicille. Le Jargon et Ses Ballades, 1489French
- Geoffrey Chaucer
Canterbury Tales
1478English
- Thomas Malory
Le Morte d'Arthur
1485; revised through sixth edition, 1634English
--
- Ollantay
ca. 1770; attributed to Antonio Valdes; the original Quechua and German translation both published 1857Quechua
- Shī Nài'ān
Shuǐ Hŭ Zhuàn
The Water Margin
written Fourteenth CenturyChinese
--
- Hagoromo
Celestial Feather Robe; The Feather Mantle
ca. early Sixteenth CenturyJapanese
--
- Popul Vuh
K'iche'
- Teresa of Ávila
La Vida de Santa Teresa de Jesús
1588Spanish
'Hot Sun, Cool Fire'
excerpt from The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe, 1599English
- Wú Chéng-ēn (Ruzhong)
Xi Yóu Jì
Journey to the West; Monkey
late Sixteenth CenturyChinese
- Edmund Spenser
The Faerie Queene
originally published in two volumes, 1590 and 1596English
William Shakespeare
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
ca. 1595-1600English
- King Lear
1606English
- Miguel de Cervantes
El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha
Don Quixote
originally published in two volumes, 1605 and 1615Spanish
Sonnets [excerpted]
nos. 18 and 20; complete work published 1609English
'The Flea'
part of Poems With Elegies on the Authors Death [1633]English
'To His Coy Mistress'
written ca. early 1650'sEnglish
'Forgive Us Our Trespasses'
part of Miscellany, 1685English
- John Milton
Paradise Lost
1667; revised 1674English
- Jonathan Swift
Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and Then a Captain of Several Ships
Gulliver's Travels
1726; revised 1735English
- Voltaire
Candide, ou L'Optimisme
1759French
- Jonathan Swift
A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public
originally anonymously published 1729English
'Advice to a Young Man on the Choice of a Mistress'
letter dated 25 June 1745English
- James Boswell
London Journal
written 1762-63English
'A Letter to the Royal Academy'
'Fart Proudly'
included in Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School, 1990English
- Mary Wollstonecraft
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
1792English
- Choderlos de Laclos
Les Liaisons Dangereuses
The Dangerous Liaisons
1782French
- Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities
originally published serially Apr.-Nov. 1859 in All the Year RoundEnglish
- Gustave Flaubert
Madame Bovary
originally published serially Oct. 1856-Dec. 1856 in La Revue de ParisFrench
- Louisa M Alcott
Little Women
originally published in two volumes: Little Women, 1868; and Good Wives, 1869English
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- 'Kubla Khan, a Vision in a Dream'
part of Christabel; Kubla Khan, a Vision in a Dream; The Pains of Sleep, 1816English
- 'The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere'
originally published in Lyrical Ballads, With a Few Other Poems, 1798; revised for inclusion in Sibylline Leaves, 1817English
'Auguries of Innocence'
written ca. 1803; part of the Pickering Manuscript; originally published as part of Alexander Gilchrist's Life of William Blake, "Pictor Ignotus." With Selections From His Poems and Other Writings, 1863English
- Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice
originally anonymously published 1813English
'She Walks in Beauty'
part of Hebrew Melodies, 1815English
'Ozymandias'
originally published Jan. 1818 in the Examiner; included in Rosalind and Helen, A Modern Eclogue; With Other Poems, 1818English
'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud'
originally published as part of Poems in Two Volumes, 1807; revised for inclusion in Poems by William Wordsworth, 1815English
'O Solitude'
originally published May 1816 in the ExaminerEnglish
- Mary Shelley
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
originally anonymously published 1818English
Jacob Grimm; Wilhelm Grimm
Nineteenth CenturyGerman
- 'Das Tapfere Schneiderlein'
'The Valiant Little Tailor'
part of Kinder- und HausmärchenGerman
'Hansel and Gretel'
part of Kinder- und HausmärchenGerman
'Little Snow White'
part of Kinder- und HausmärchenEnglish
- 'Sechse Kommen Durch die Ganze Welt'
'How Six Made Good in the World'
part of Kinder- und HausmärchenGerman
'La Belle Dame Sans Merci'
originally published May 1820 in the IndictaorEnglish
- William Blake
Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion
ca. 1820English
- Nat Turner and Thomas B Gray
The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, Va. as Fully and Voluntarily Made to Thomas B Gray
1831English
'The Mortal Immortal'
originally published Dec. 1833 in the Keepsake for 1834English
Fables
Nineteenth CenturyDanish
'Rondeau'
'Jenny Kiss'd Me'
originally published Nov. 1838 in the Monthly ChronicleEnglish
- Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress
originally published under the pseudonym, Boz, serially Feb. 1837-April 1839 in Bentley's MiscellanyEnglish
'The Jumblies'
part of Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets, 1870English
- Heinrich Hoffmann
Der Struwwelpeter
1845German
Edgar Allan Poe
originally published Jan. 1843 in the Pioneer; revised for inclusion in the Broadway Journal, Aug. 1845English
originally published Aug. 1844 in the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper and Sep. 1844 in Godey's Magazine and Lady's BookEnglish
- 'The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether'
originally published Nov. 1845 in Graham'sEnglish
- 'The Facts in the Case of M Valdemar'
originally published Dec. 1845 in the Broadway Journal and in American Review: A Whig JournalEnglish
originally published Jan. 1845 in the Evening Mirror; published under the pseudonym, Quarles, Feb. 1845 in the American Review; included in The Raven and Other Poems, 1845English
- 'The Pit and the Pendulum'
originally published 1842 in The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843; revised for inclusion in the Broadway Journal, May 1845English
- 'The Masque of the Red Death'
originally entitled 'The Mask of the Red Death', published May 1842 in Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine; retitled and revised for inclusion in the Broadway Journal, Jul. 1845English
originally published Oct. 1849 in the New York Tribune and Nov. 1849 in Sartain's Union MagazineEnglish
- Charlotte Brontë
Jane Eyre: An Autobiography
originally published under the pseudonym, Currer Bell, 1847English
- Emily Brontë
Wuthering Heights
originally published 1847 under the pseudonym, Ellis Bell; revised 1850English
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter
1850English
- Herman Melville
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
1851English
- Henry David Thoreau
Walden; or, Life in the Woods
1854English
- Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass
1855; expanded and revised through ninth edition, 1892English
- Fitz Hugh Ludlow
The Hasheesh Easter
1857English
- Charles Darwin
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
1859English
'The Message From Mount Misery'
selections from edited Aug. 1857 speech, originally published as part of Two Speeches, by Frederick Douglass; One on West India Emancipation, Delivered at Canandaigua, Aug. 4th, and the Other on the Dred Scott Decision, Delivered in New York on the Occasion of the Anniversary of the American Abolition Society, May, 1857, 1857English
- Victor Hugo
Les Misérables
1862French
Emily Dickinson
- 'Because I Could Not Stop for Death'
part of Poems, 1890English
- 'I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed'
part of Poems, 1890English
- Gustave Flaubert; George Sand
Lettres de Gustave Flaubert à George Sand
1884; written 1863-80French
Lewis Carroll
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
1865English
- Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There
1871English
part of Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, 1871English
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
Prestuplénie i Nakazániye
Crime and Punishment
originally published serially Jan.-Dec. 1866 in Rússkij VéstnikRussian
- Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
Venus im Pelz
Venus in Furs
1870German
'Le Bateau Ivre'
'The Drunken Boat'
written 1871English
- George Eliot
Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life
originally published serially Dec. 1871-Dec. 1872English
- Lewis Carroll
The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in 8 Fits
1876English
- Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina
published in part serially 1873-7 in Rússkij Véstnik; in its entirety, 1877Russian
- Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1884English
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Also Sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen
Thus Spake Zarathustra
originally published in four volumes, 1883-85German
- Robert Louis Stevenson
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1886English
'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'
originally published Jul. 1890 in the San Francisco Examiner; included in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, 1891English
- Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Grey
originally published Jul. 1890 in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine; revised and expanded 1891; alternate earlier version published 2011English
- Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness
originally published serially Feb.-Apr. 1899 in Blackwood'sEnglish
- Kate Chopin
The Awakening
1899English
- Sigmund Freud
Die Traumdeutung
The Interpretation of Dreams
1899German
- L Frank Baum
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
1900English
'The New Accelerator'
originally published Dec. 1901 in the StrandEnglish
'Reginald'
part of Reginald, 1904English
- E M Forster
A Room With a View
1908English
- Maxim Gorky
Mat'
Mother
1907Russian
'If'
part of Rewards and Fairies, 1910English
- Jack London
John Barleycorn
1913English
'Araby'
part of Dubliners, 1914English
- Franz Kafka
Die Verwandlung
The Metamorphosis
originally published 1915 in Die Weißen BlätterGerman
- Virginia Woolf
The Voyage Out
1915English
'The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock'
originally published Jun. 1915 in Poetry: A Magazine of Verse; included in Prufrock and Other Observations, 1917English
'The Mowers'
originally published in Some Imagist Poets, 1915English
'Sea Iris'
part of Sea Garden, 1916English
'A Matter of Colour'
originally published Apr. 1916 in TabulaEnglish
- Kahlil Gibran
The Madman
1918English
- J D Salinger
Catcher in the Rye
1951English
'Hands'
originally published Mar. 1916 in Masses; part of Winesburg, Ohio, 1919English
- William Butler Yeats
The Dreaming of the Bones
originally published Jan. 1919 in the Little Review; included in Two Plays for Dancers, 1919, and its expanded version, Four Plays for Dancers, 1921English
- Colette
Cheri
1920French
- Edith Wharton
The Age of Innocence
1920English
'Dulce et Decorum Est'
part of Poems, 1920English
'The Second Coming'
originally published Nov. 1920 in both the Dial and the Nation; included in Michael Robartes and the Dancer, 1921English
Edna St. Vincent Millay
English
- 'The Singing-Woman From the Wood's Edge'
English
Franz Kafka
'The Top'
part of Beschreibung Eines Kampfes, 1936German
'Give It Up!'
part of Beschreibung Eines Kampfes, 1936German
- Virginia Woolf
To the Lighthouse
1927 English
'The Negro Dreams of Rivers'
originally published 1921 in Crisis; included in The Weary Blues, 1926English
'Rain'
part of Trembling of a Leaf, 1921English
- James Joyce
Ulysses
published in part serially Mar. 1918-Dec. 1920 in the Little Review; in its entirety, 1922English
'Living on $1,000 a Year in Paris'
originally entitled 'A Canadian with $1,000 a Year Can Live Very Comfortably and Enjoyably in Paris', published Feb. 1922 in the Toronto StarEnglish
'The Emperor of Ice-Cream'
included in Harmonium, 1923English
'The Hill'
originally published Mar. 1922 in the MississippianEnglish
- Herman Hesse
Siddhartha
1922German
'The Waste Land'
originally published Oct. 1922 in the CriterionEnglish
- F Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby
1925English
- Herman Hesse
Der Steppenwolf
1927German
- D H Lawrence
Lady Chatterley's Lover
abridged version, 1928; complete work, 1960English
- William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury
1929English
- Rainer Maria Rilke
Briefe an Einen Jungen Dichter
Letters to a Young Poet
1929German
- Dashiell Hammett
The Maltese Falcon
1930English
- Aldous Huxley
Brave New World
1932English
- Zora Neale Hurston
Poker!
1931English
- John G Neihardt
Black Elk Speaks
1932English
'Strange Fruit'
originally entitled 'Bitter Fruit', published Jan. 1937 in the New York Teacher; retitled and adapted for music by the authorEnglish
- Jean-Paul Sartre
La Nausée
Nausea
1938French
- John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath
1939English
Ficciones [excerpted]
'La Biblioteca de Babel'; 'El Jardín de Senderos que se Bifurcan'; 'Las Ruinas Circulares'Spanish
- Albert Camus
L'Étranger
The Stranger
1942French
- George Orwell
Animal Farm
1945English
'The Heart of the Park'
originally published Feb. 1949 in Partisan Review; became part of Wise Blood, 1952; included in The Complete Stories, 1971English
- George Orwell
Nineteen Eighty-Four
1949English
- Nelson Algren
The Man With the Golden Arm
1949English
'The Voice of the Hamster'
originally published serially Nov. 1952-Feb. 1953 in the Oyster Bay High School Purple and GoldEnglish
- Samuel Beckett
En Attendant Godot
Waiting for Godot
1953French
'La Bailarina'
'The Dancer'
part of Lagar, 1954; English translation included in Madwomen: The Locas Mujeres Poems of Gabriela Mistral, 2008Spanish
- William Golding
Lord of the Flies
1954English
- Aldous Huxley
The Doors of Perception
1954English
- Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita
1955English
- Jack Kerouac
On the Road
1957; alternate version, 2007English
- William S Burroughs
Naked Lunch
1959English
- Ken Kesey
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1962English
- Sylvia Plath
The Bell Jar
originally published under the pseudonym, Victoria Lucas, 1963English
- Hubert Selby
Last Exit to Brooklyn
published in part, 1956, as 'The Queen Is Dead', in the Black Mountain Review; and 1961, as 'Tralala', in the Provincetown Review; in its entirety, 1964English
- Anaïs Nin
The Diaries of Anaïs Nin
originally published in seven volumes, 1966-80English
- Mikhail Bulgakov
Mástyer i Margaríta
The Master and Margarita
published in part, 1966-67, in Moskva; in its entirety, 1973; revised 1989Russian
- Gabriel García Márquez
Cien Anõs de Soledad
One Hundred Years of Solitude
1967Spanish
- Richard Brautigan
In Watermelon Sugar
1968English
- Thomas Pynchon
Gravity's Rainbow
1973English
- J G Ballard
Crash
1973English
'I Bought a Little City'
originally published 1974 in the New Yorker; included in Sixty Stories, 1981English
'What We Talk About When We Talk About Love'
originally published 1981 in Antaeus; included in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, 1981; alternate version entitled 'Beginners' published Dec. 2007 in the New Yorker and included in Beginners, 2009, and Raymond Carver: Collected Stories, 2009English
- Kathy Acker
Blood and Guts in High School
1984English
- Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West
1985English
- Umberto Eco
Il Pendolo di Foucault
1988Italian
- Barry Gifford
Wild at Heart
1990English
- Ben Okri
The Famished Road
1991English
- Alan Lightman
Einstein's Dreams
1992English
- Murakami Haruki
Nejimaki-Dori Kuronikuru
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
originally published in three volumes, 1994-5Japanese
- David Foster Wallace
Infinite Jest
1996English
- Thomas Mann
Der Tod in Venedig
Death in Venice
1911German