Shaun Tan: The Arrival

Shaun Tans The Arrival ist eine "graphic novel" ohne Worte, eine parabelartige Abfolge von Bildern, die das Schicksal des Emigranten in die USA schlechthin schildert. Gleichzeitig durchdringen fantastische, surrealistische Traumbilder das Geschehen. Alle Bilder in einem Braunton gehalten, so als hätte man auf einem Dachboden ein altes Fotoalbum gefunden, dessen vergilbte Bilder eine längst vergessene Geschichte erzählen.

Shaun Tan is an Australian artist, writer and film maker. He won an Academy Award for The Lost Thing, a 2011 animated film adaptation of a 2000 picture book he wrote and illustrated. Beside The Lost Thing, The Red Tree and The Arrival are books he has written and illustrated.
Tan was born in Fremantle, Western Australia and grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth in 1974. In 2006, his wordless graphic novel The Arrival won the "Book of the Year" prize as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. The same book won the Children's Book Council of Australia "Picture Book of the Year" award in 2007.

We show some pictures of the first part and a selection of the second and third part of the book.

I

II

A typical picture (arrival in New York) where reality mix with dreams.

III

IV

Shaun Tan also includes the story and the fate of other immigrants. It is usually recognized by the slight change of color as seen by the following pictures:

 V - VI

Anyone who thinks that the graphic novel is no more than a flash-in-the-pan phenomenon, ought to take a look at The Arrival . This magnificient work not only establishes itself in a mayor new literary genre but raises the stakes for anyone seriously considering working in it. Born of dreams and history, it is a story that seems to have been living in the depths of our unconscious, Shaun Tan reached deep down and brought it into the light. - David Small, Caldecott Metalist

Shaun Tan