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Tuesday, 07 November 2006 17:05 |
| | David Forbes |
It is often assumed that the truth never dies. But, as the last work of legendary comics creator Will Eisner, "The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion" (W.W. Norton & Company, 148 pages, $19.95) shows, lies can have a nastily long lifespan as well.
"The Plot" chronicles how a hoax ¨?ÇƒÓ in this case an especially poisonous, anti-Semitic one ÇƒÓ can take on a life of its own. It is not Eisnerës best work, but the art in this graphic novel is superb and I found some of the moments it depicts sticking with me long after I had set it down.
One of the grand old men of the American comics industry, Eisner started drawing and writing in pre-World War II New York for a variety of publications. He became known for his innovative storytelling and artistic techniques as well as rich characterization.
In
fact, he coined the very term "graphic novel" with his 1978 publication
of "A Contract with God," leading directly to an outpouring of
innovation in the medium and marking the beginning of its evolution
into literature.
Sadly, Eisner
died last year at the age of 87. He was still hard at work and "The
Plot," made possible by the opening of old Soviet files, was published
posthumously.
Eisner begins
his tale in 1878 with the death of Maurice Joly, a French
anti-authoritarian firebrand. As the police investigate, they recall
his deeds, in particular a pamphlet called "A dialogue in hell between
Machiavelli and Montesqieu," a thinly veiled attack on Emperor
Napoleon III, with the aforementioned figures standing in for the
regimeës views.
Enter Matvei
Golovinski, a son of impoverished Russian aristocracy. An agent of the
Okhranka, the tsarës secret police, he cooperates with the religious
authorities and extreme right-wingers in Russia to create a hoax that
will tie the ideas of liberal modernists in the tsarës cabinet to a
made-up plot by Jews to destroy civilization.
In creating this
hoax, the infamous "Protocols" in the bookës title, Golovinski lifts
entire sections from Jolyës pamphlet, removing its original context and
reshaping it to fit his purpose. He accomplishes his task ÇƒÓ the tsar
dismisses the liberal ministers.
But the hoax
lives on, as "The Protocols" make their way abroad, fueling
anti-Semitism wherever they land. French right-wingers at the time of
the Dreyfus Affair brandish them, Henry Ford funds the printing of
500,000 copies in the U.S., and German nationalists in the 1920s ǃÓ
many of whom end up joining the Nazi party ÇƒÓ pick them up in droves.
Eisnerës
distinct art style is put to excellent use in this work, proof that he
kept improving with age. The ink-washed drawings make the characters
practically crawl off the page as they carry out dirty their deeds.
The facial
expressions and body language are particularly emotive. Golovinski, for
example, almost leaks seediness and a mercenary contempt for the truth
right off the page.
 The centerpiece
of the book, with two investigators in a Constantinople cafe piecing
together the hoaxës evolution themselves, manages to invest an
impressive energy in what is, after all, simply two people talking
around some papers.
At the same
time, Eisner simply doesnët bring the sheer human pathos to this story
that he managed in "A Contract with God," "Last Day in Vietnam," and
his New York stories.
The writing is
also overly expository. While Eisnerës old-school style always leaned
in that direction, minus the character-focus and more subtle touch
present in some of the aforementioned works, it does result in some
passages where I wished he would have taken as much care with the
dialogue as he did with the art.
However, he does
have a lot of history to cover. I also realized midway through the
work that the main character isnët any one person or even a group of
people.
It is instead
the hoax itself, from its birth to its eventual growth, through lies,
greed and hatred, into something far larger than originally intended.
The centerpiece
is the investigatorsë complete debunking of "The Protocols," which The
Times of London newspaper subsequently prints.
This is in 1921.
Over the ensuing decades, it is disproven again and again, all over the
world. Congress issues a report condemning it, as do countless other
governing bodies.
Yet still it
does not die. "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" can be found in
bookstalls all over the world, most ominously in the Middle East, where
editions seem to be particularly popular. Even in Western nations, it
enjoys a continued life, especially among some groups of anti-Israel
extremists.
Eisnerës ending
montage on this zombie-like tenacity of a lie, including a personal
encounter with protestors in a park who still believe its assertions
and a long list of continuing publications of "The Protocols," may be
the strongest and most chilling part of the work.
Despite its
occasional flaws and heavy-handedness, "The Plot" still manages to give
its story some haunting and eerily relevant resonance.
Eisner ended his long career well ÇƒÓ I hope I can produce work this good when Iëm 87.
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