Episode 303 – Peter Kuper

Virtual Memories Show 303:
Peter Kuper

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“Art has been my saving grace, in terms of having an outlet so I’m not just having today’s news run around in my head and make me scream.”

Political artist/illustrator Peter Kuper rejoins the show to talk about these Kafkaesque times and his new graphic novel, Kafkaesque: Fourteen Stories (Norton)! We get into his decades-long interest in Kafka, the art of literary adaptation, why the constraints of working with an existing story can be liberating, how to talk about controversial artists in the present moment, the various translations of K he read before commissioning his own, and challenges of his adaptation-in-progress: Heart of Darkness. We also get into his post-2016-election mindset, the discovery of his New Yorker cartoonist line, his laborious process of breaking down a comic, what his dream adaptation project is, the time he got stranded in a village in Africa by an evil guide, and much more! Give it a listen! And go buy Kafkaesque: Fourteen Stories!

“I feel a lot of anxiety that what I’m working on relates to what’s going on in the world.”

“I teach so that I can learn what it is I think I know.”

Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!

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About our Guest

Peter Kuper’s work appears regularly in The New Yorker, The Nation, and Mad, where he has written and illustrated “Spy vs. Spy” every issue since 1997. He is the co-founder of World War 3 Illustrated, a political comix magazine now in its 40th year of publication. He has produced over two dozen books, including Sticks and Stones, The System, Diario de Oaxaca, Ruins (which won the 2016 Eisner Award) and more. His most recent graphic novel is Kafkaesque: Fourteen Stories. He is currently working on an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

Peter has lectured extensively throughout the world and has taught comics and illustration courses at Parsons, The School of Visual Arts, and Harvard University’s first class dedicated to graphic novels. A frequent guest at literary festivals, Peter enjoys traveling the world, but will always call New York City his home.

Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at Peter’s studio on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 Microphones feeding into a Zoom H5 digital recorder, as well as a Zoom H2n Handy Recorder. I recorded the intro and outro on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Cloudlifter CL-1 and a Mackie Onyx Blackjack 2×2 USB Recording Interface. All processing and editing done in Adobe Audition CC. B/w photo of Peter by me. It’s on my instagram. Butterfly photo by Holly Kuper.