The Rabbi's Cat (comics)

''The Rabbi's Cat'' ( French title: ''Le Chat du Rabbin'') is a series of comic fantasy comic books created by Joann Sfar. It was originally published in France by Dargaud as a series of graphic albums. English translations of the first five stories have been released by Pantheon Books. Some volumes were also translated into Croatian, Russian, Polish, Dutch, and German.

Albums

Original publications

# ''La Bar-Mitsva'' (2002) , prefaced by Éliette Abécassis. Translated into English, Arabic, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Hebrew, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.
# ''Le Malka des lions'' (2002) , prefaced by Fellag. Translated into English, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.
# ''L'Exode'' (2003) , with a preface by Georges Moustaki. Translated into English, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.
# ''Le Paradis terrestre'' (2005) , with a preface by Jean Giraud. Translated into English, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
# ''Jérusalem d'Afrique'' (2006) , prefaced by Philippe Val. Joann Sfar describes this album in a preface as a story against racism. Translated into English, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
# ''Tu n'auras pas d'autre Dieu que moi'' (2015) . Translated into Dutch, German, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish.
# ''La tour de Bab-El-Oued'' (2017) . Translated into Dutch, German, Polish and Spanish.
# ''Petit panier aux amandes'' (2018) . Translated into Dutch, German, Polish and Spanish.
# ''La Reine de Shabbat'' (2019) . Translated into Polish and German (forthcoming April 2022).
# ''Rentrez chez vous !'' (2020) . Translated into Polish and German (forthcoming April 2022).
# ''La Bible pour les chats'', (2021) .

Translations

English

*''The Rabbi's Cat'', Pantheon, 2007 (Books 1-3) .
*''The Rabbi's Cat 2'', Pantheon, 2008 (Books 4-5) .

Croatian

*''Rabinov mačak'', Bookglobe, Zagreb, Croatia, 2013 (Books 1-5) .

Russian

* ''Кот раввина'', 2021 .

Reception

The comic books received positive reviews. The '' Kirkus reviews'' called the first English album "An unexpectedly haunting work from a major talent", and described it as follows:

Although dusted with fantasy, the book is powerfully real, etched with the dark shadows of an ancient society where Jews, French and Arabs mixed, a world soon to be swept away by the winds of war and modernity. Sfar’s artwork is playfully exaggerated, adding to the otherworldly feel here, while his writing is smart and sharp, perfectly counteracting any burgeoning colonial-era nostalgia the pages might evoke.

Diane Snyder in a review of second English album for the ''Armchair Interviews'' said that it "remind you of Aesop’s Fables." Review for the ''Jewish Book Council'' called the second album "A lit­tle dark­er than the first ''Rabbi's Cat'', but equally as enthralling, this sec­ond show­ing will leave read­ers hop­ing for an encore."

Adaptations

* ''Le Chat du Rabbin'' has been adapted for the theater by Camille Nahum under the name of ''La Bar-mitsva du Chat du Rabbin'', created at Paris at the theater ''Michel Galabru'' 18 September 2004 then reprised at the ''Théâtre Le Temple'' from the 22d of March 2005 to 28 April 2005. Staging by Élise McLeod andSei Shiomi, actors were Rémy Darcy, Shiran Azoulay and Camille Nahum.
* Joann Sfar and several artists have adapted '' The Rabbi's Cat'' into an animated film. It premiered in the cinema in France the first of June 2011.

Further reading

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabbi's Cat
French graphic novels
Comics about cats
Comics set in Algeria
Fictional Algerian people
French comics adapted into films
Jewish-related comics
Fiction set in the 1920s