I am haunted by a kind of book obsession. An example of how it manifests, occurred this morning; when I was reading a passage in an article about The Silk Road, followed by the Footsteps of the Buddha, I came across this -
"This is the world's fourth largest religion, with over half a billion
adherents - about 245 million of whom live in China - but of which only 1.8 still live in the land of the Buddha." (India) pg.58 Sunday New York Times, Style magazine, Travel, May 17, 2020.
Immediately I thought of Christianity and Islam as members of the aforementioned four largest religions, but what was the missing one? Was it Hinduism? So I went to my first thought source, a book written and illustrated by Mabel Pyne called The Story of Religion, published in 1954 by Houghton Mifflin.
My first encounter with this little gem came about in the late 1970's or early 1980's when I was teaching English at a local high school. Wandering the library stacks as I often did on free time, I came upon this book, which even then was a bit dog eared and worn but I had NEVER come across so clear concise, and enlightening book on any subject before. It is meant for the juvenile level but it took a lot of knowledge to pare all that information down into this lucid and elegant book. Ms. Pyne gives a brief history of the theory of the emergence of religion, then goes on to give a simple and useful description of the major religions including the main holy book, the main prophet/prophets, the main symbols and the main tenets.
In the center of the book is a two page spread showing the Tree of Religions (a family tree graphical organizer). Never before did I have so clear an appreciation for the basics and the relationship of these religions to one another.
The book WAS NOT where I usually keep it, so, flashlight in hand (my eyesight is failing) I searched until I found it in the bedroom floor to ceiling bookcase. I had been tidying up and instead of leaving this book where I was used to seeing it, I had moved it to its proper category - Religion - in my bookcase.
I wanted to look up Islam again. But before I even did that, I decided to look up Mabel Pyne. If she had any other books, I wanted to buy them. If she were still alive, I wanted to write her and tell her how much I admire her book.
Sadly, Mabel Pyne passed away in 2018 and I was shocked to see that no mention in her obituary was made about her life as an author. She had written and illustrated half a dozen books, including more histories such as the The Story of the History of the United States (not available) and the Geography of the United States (not available).
The way Mabel Pynes book came to me was that it had been borrowed half a dozen times in the 1950's and half a dozen times in the 1960's then only a couple of times in the 1970's until I cam along in the 1980's and borrowed it regularly. Just before a massive library renovation, when I was borrowing it, the librarian told me not to bring it back. She said its age and condition and the fact that I was the only to borrow it in a decade made it likely it was going into discard/recycle and if I wanted it, I would be able to save it. Mabel Pyne's work has been with me ever since.
In her obituary it was revealed that Mabel Pyne lived to be 100 years of age and had outlived everyone in her immediate family including her husband and son. Nothing was mentioned about her education or her life as an author illustrator, only that she and her husband ran a service station.
It reminded me of an author I met at the Homestead Motel in Petersburg, West Virginia. She owned the farm and the motel and had written 3 or 4 books for children, about life in 'Old Time" West Virginia. I bought all other books, for my daughter, but really for myself. My heart goes out to these quiet authors who put their ideas and art out into the world through the vehicles of books and who never make much money or get my fame, or even much acknowledgement and affirmation for their work, but do it because it pleases them to contribute to the world knowledge.
You never know how a book will influence your life. So many many years later, here we are in 2020 and I have been kind of studying graphic novels in a very peripheral way. I read the reviews, and I read the graphic novels; favorites so far, Roz Chast's "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant" and "Fun House" (I forgot the author's name). I just started reading Voyeurs. And here is the pioneer Mabel Pyne, giving an illustrated text on the history of religions - the same guiding principle of marrying text and images to mato a more complete path to visualization.
I am planning my own graphic novel, to the point of prose layout, very general, and a few images in mind. Mine will be called ROMANCE in Three Acts. I want to use a different format, however from the small boxes in traditional comics and graphic novels. I would like to go 5 by 7 with the images and make the images less a step by step part of the plot, and more of a meditative image to go along with the plot. We'll see how this goes, but it is fun to contemplate trying something new!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
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