The Wild Party, a poem first published in 1928, was republished in 1995 with gorgeous black and white
woodcut-style illustrations by
Art Spiegelman, who had "rediscovered" this lost
classic of the
jazz age. The images are an almost perfect match for the strange
syncopated rhythms of the
couplets, and the
hard-boiled story of debauchery.
It's astonishing writing. Even if you don't like it, it slinks back into your mind, to the point where you remember the lines as soon as your walk hits the right
pattern and
pace.
A
paperback edition was released in 1999.