A Drifting Life

A Drifting Life

• Used Book in Good Condition

<p><b>The epic autobiography of a manga master</b><br><b></b><br><b></b>Acclaimed for his visionary short-story collections <i>The Push Man and Other Stories</i>, <i>Abandon the Old in Tokyo</i>, and <i>Good-Bye</i>―originally created nearly forty years ago, but just as resonant now as ever―the legendary Japanese cartoonist Yoshihiro Tatsumi has come to be recognized in North America as a precursor of today's graphic novel movement. <i>A Drifting Life</i> is his monumental memoir eleven years in the making, beginning with his experiences as a child in Osaka, growing up as part of a country burdened by the shadows of World War II.</p><p>Spanning fifteen years from August 1945 to June 1960, Tatsumi's stand-in protagonist, Hiroshi, faces his father's financial burdens and his parents' failing marriage, his jealous brother's deteriorating health, and the innumerable pitfalls that await him in the competitive manga market of mid-twentieth-century Japan. He dreams of following in the considerable footsteps of his idol, the manga artist Osamu Tezuka (<i>Astro Boy</i>, <i>Apollo's Song</i>, <i>Ode to Kirihito</i>, <i>Buddha</i>)―with whom Tatsumi eventually became a peer and, at times, a stylistic rival. As with his short-story collection, <i>A Drifting Life</i> is designed by Adrian Tomine.</p>