My watch

The novel consists of 167 drawings, including two introductory ones, measuring approximately 9 by 7 cm ^[4] . The drawings are made using the technique of woodcut , that is, printed from woodcuts. In this case, the artist did not use the method of face engraving , developed at the end of the XVIII century, but the older method of longitudinal engraving , which by the beginning of the XX century was outdated and was used mainly to illustrate religious texts ^[5] .

Mazerel considered the work close to autobiographical ^[2] . So, at the beginning of the novel are two introductory drawings, a self-portrait of Mazerel and a portrait of the protagonist, respectively. Mazerel sits at a desk, around it - tools for creating woodcuts, and the main character stands in the open air, among tall buildings, and shows his hand somewhere down. The artist and the character are equally dressed and have similar facial features. According to researcher M. Cohen, the usual appearance of both hides the courage of their actions: the artist creates a new world in front of him, and a character standing at full height and not even fit within the picture is a giant in this imaginary world ^[6] .

There are also two quotes behind the introduction - “See, I don’t lecture you, I don’t give me charity: when I give, I give myself” from the collection “ Leaves of Grass ” by the American poet Walt Whitman and a longer quote from the novel “ Cola Bruyon ” French writer Romain Rollan ^[6] .

"My Hourly Book" begins with the arrival of a young man at the railway station of a big city. The novel focuses on the fate of this ordinary person and talks about the joys, sorrows, pleasures, boredom and anger of life in a large city ^[7] .

Throughout the novel, the main character travels, but he rarely has a specific goal, which seems to be emphasized by the consistent nature of the presentation. He often finds himself in nature, which has a great influence on him; he visits religious places as casually as entertainment ^[8] .

The character uses the opportunities that open up to him, but also easily breaks his connection with them: for example, in the initial part of the novel he calls for protests and leads a group of people on strike, but in the next figure he goes away, disappointed by endless political discussions ^[3] ; closer to the end, the main character shocked the townspeople, refusing the medal for saving the girl and urinating from the roof, for which he was expelled from the city ^[9] .

The young man falls in love with enthusiasm - after that he has a halo over his head; as if he expiates his guilt and helps others do it ^[3] . The main character often changes his line of work because of women: the thrush distracts him from the farm, the other girl from politics; he saves women three times: a little girl from her father beating her, a black girl from a white master beating her and a girl drowning in a pond; however, he often visits prostitutes - sometimes with enthusiasm, sometimes with longing ^[9] .

In general, he often finds himself in comic situations - when a prostitute with whom he fell in love refuses him - or sad ones - when his adoptive daughter (whom the main character saved from her father) dies - situations ^[4] . The protagonist cannot find peace, continuing to travel to the very end of the novel - he dies, throwing lightning and moving towards the stars ^[3] .

"My Hourly Book" is made in the genre of a novel without words , that is, a sequence of images without signatures that convey a common plot. Despite the similarity with the comics in the form of the narrative, the novel was created under the influence of high art, aimed at relevant readers and influenced the corresponding art itself ^[10] . At the beginning of the 20th century, novels without the words of Mazerel, especially “My Hour Book,” were popular with readers and critics, but were later forgotten outside the circle of comic book lovers and began to be considered primarily as the predecessors of modern graphic novels ^{[11] [12]} .

The title of the novel is associated with medieval watch books , namely with personal collections of small format prayers. Wealthy people ordered such collections to carry them with them and pray at any moment, as well as to brag about them, so they were often richly decorated and were works of art ^[13] . At the same time, the allegorical component of such collections by Mazerel in his works is replaced by a socialist ideology ^[14] , and the fate of an ordinary person took the place of the biographies of Jesus and saints. According to M. Cohen, the socialist theme of “My Watchbook” is not too obvious: Mazerel praises the worker, basically just showing his life, while his work for the most part remains behind the scenes ^[9] .

Mazerel uses both graphic technique and moral elements of German expressionism in film and theater ^[15] . So, many of his characters express their emotions with simple, unexaggerated gestures, which creates a contrast with the stronger emotions of other characters ^[16] .

The main themes of the author’s work appear in the work, to which, in his own words, he later returned more than once for inspiration ^[2] . It can be noted the constant travel of the protagonist and his inability to find peace and the image of a big city - beautiful and alluring from afar, but mundane and colorful inside ^[9] .

The first version was released in 1919 in Geneva under the French name Mon livre d'heures . 200 copies were printed directly from woodcuts ^[17] .

In 1920, German publisher released the German version called Mein Stundenbuch: 165 Holzschnitte . The first circulation was 700 copies, but then the same publisher re-released the same version several more times, and more than 100 thousand copies were sold in Europe during the 1920s ^[16] . In 1926, the first popular version was published, printed with the introduction of the German writer Thomas Mann ^[17] . Due to its wide distribution, the novel interested other authors and attracted the attention of publishers to the new genre ^[3] .

In 1922, an English version of My Book of Hours was published in the United States . 600 copies, made from original engravings, contained the introduction of the French writer Romain Rolland ^[17] .

Later, the novel was reprinted in other countries, including the American version of 1948 under the name Passionate journey (from the English - “Passionate journey”), Chinese - in 1933 and 1957, British - in 1980

The 1928 version lacks two indecent pages: the 24th in the original numbering, on which the main character has sex with a prostitute, or the 149th, on which he stands on the roof and urinates on the city ^[6] .

In the introduction to the German popular version of 1926, the German writer Thomann Mann mentions “vivid images of black and white figures, the features of which are drawn with light and shadow” and believes that the novel “captivates from beginning to end” and “leaves a deep and clear mark” ^{[ 7]} , and in the introduction to the 1928 version he calls the Mazerel’s Hourly Book “his favorite movie” ^[18] .

American critic Perry Willett ( English Perry Willett ) believes that the theme of "wandering and isolation, the image of urban reality, calls for universal fraternity and persistent individualism" bring the novel closer to paintings, films and theatrical productions of the expressionist movement ^[3] . He also notes that although the work did not gain much popularity in the United States, American critics recognized Mazerel as the father of the novel without words a few years after the publication of “My Watchbook” ^[19] .

• Antonsen, Lasse B. Frans Masereel: Passionate Journey (English) // Harvard Review : magazine. - 2004. - No. 27 . - P. 154-155 .
• Beronä, David A. Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels . - Abrams Books , 2008 .-- ISBN 978-0-8109-9469-0 .
• Cohen, Martin S. The Novel in Woodcuts: A Handbook (Russian) // Journal of Modern Literature : journal. - 1977. - Vol. 6 , no. 2 . - P. 171-195 .
• Mehring, Frank. Hard-Boiled Silhouettes // Transnational Perspectives on Graphic Narratives: Comics at the Crossroads . - A&C Black, 2013 .-- P. 211–228. - ISBN 978-1-4411-8575-4 .
• Petersen, Robert. Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels: A History of Graphic Narratives . - ABC-CLIO , 2010. - ISBN 978-0-313-36330-6 .
• Tabachnick, Stephen E. The Graphic Novel and the Age of Transition: A Survey and Analysis // English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920: journal. - 2010 .-- Vol. 53 , no. 1 . - P. 3-28 . - DOI : 10.2487 / elt. 53.1 (2010) 0050 .
• Willett, Perry. The Silent Shout: Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward, and the Novel in Woodcuts . - Indiana University Libraries, 1997.
• Willett, Perry. The Cutting Edge of German Expressionism: The Woodcut Novel of Frans Masereel and Its Influences // A Companion to the Literature of German Expressionism . - Camden House Publishing , 2005. - P. 111–134. - ISBN 978-1-57113-175-1 .
• B.N. Ternovets . Selected Articles . - Soviet artist, 1963. - 362 p.