The Jungle
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4.3 • 4 Ratings
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- $0.99
Publisher Description
The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by author and socialist
journalist Upton Sinclair. It was written about the corruption of the American
meatpacking industry during the early 20th century. The novel depicts in harsh
tones the poverty, absence of social programs, unpleasant living and working
conditions, and hopelessness prevalent among the "have-nots", which is
contrasted with the deeply rooted corruption on the part of the "haves". The sad
state of turn-of-the-century labor is placed front and center for the American
public to see, suggesting that something needed to be changed to get rid of
American "wage slavery". The novel is also an important example of the
"muckraking" tradition begun by journalists such as Jacob Riis. Sinclair wanted
to persuade his readers that the mainstream American political parties offered
little means for progressive change.
— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Originally published in 1991 as part of a short-lived revival of the Classics Illustrated line, this adaptation of Sinclair's muckraking socialist novel succeeds because of its powerful images. When Kuper initially drew it, he was already a well-known left-wing comics artist. His unenviable task is condensing a 400-page novel into a mere 48 pages, and, inevitably, much of the narrative drama is lost. Kuper replaces it, however, with unmatched pictorial drama. The story follows Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkis and his family as they are eaten up and spit out by capitalism (represented by Chicago's packing houses). Kuper uses an innovative full-color stencil technique with the immediacy of graffiti to give Sinclair's story new life. When Jurgis is jailed for beating the rich rapist Connor, a series of panels suffused with a dull, red glow draw readers closer and closer to Jurgis's face, until they see that the glint in his eye is fire. Jurgis, briefly prosperous as a strong-arm man for the Democratic machine, smokes a cigar; the smoke forms an image of his dead son and evicted family. Perhaps most visually dazzling is the cubist riot as strikers battle police amid escaping cattle. Kuper infuses this 1906 novel with the energy of 1980s-era street art and with his own profoundly original graphic innovation, making it a classic in its own right.
