Timothy Perper, 74, Writer/Researcher
Timothy Perper, 74, writer and independent researcher on courtship as
well as advocate for Japanese manga and anime, died of cardiac arrest
on Tuesday, January 21st, at his Bella Vista home.
As a biology professor at Rutgers New Brunswick in the 1970s, Perper
became fascinated by how couples first meet and then decide whether or
not they are attracted to each other. He obtained a grant from the
Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation to study conversations and pick-ups
in singles bars. His book, Sex Signals: The Biology of Love (1985),
was described in the New York Times as "lively and provocative" and by
CHOICE magazine as "highly readable and well-researched." He
identified a body language sequence typical of courtship:
approach-talk-turn-touch-synchronization. This research attracted the
attention of the media, and he was interviewed by Dr. Ruth Westheimer,
Regis Philbin, and the Playboy Channel, among others. "We human
beings," Perper wrote in Forum magazine in 1987 "do not fall in love
by telepathy: we have to move into proximity with each other." Yet, as
he told L.A. Life in 1995, "it is behavior, vivacity that attracts
people, not looks, beauty, not elegance of dress."
Later, upon learning that Japanese manga comics depict courtship and
sexuality differently than did most American comics at the time,
Perper began to study and write about manga and anime in Mangatopia
(2011), Graphic Novels Beyond the Basics (2009), and in essays and
reviews online and in journals and anthologies. "Anime and manga
represent living evidence of what nonwestern, erotophilic, and
female-positive sexuality can look like," he wrote in the newsletter
Contemporary Sexuality (2005). "Manga and anime provide ways to
connect with young people and initiate conversations about sexuality."
He served as book review editor for The Journal of Sex Research, The
Journal of Sex Education and Therapy, and Mechademia: An Annual Forum
for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts.
Perper also wrote quirky fiction, some published in Analog and in
Oziana, the literary annual of the International Wizard of Oz Club. He
delighted in creating cunning, oddball comebacks to spam emails and
devising humorous wordplay. In recent years, his special love was
creating the adventure/comedy webcomic The Adventures of Princess
Adele of Utopia (www.princessadele.com) in collaboration with Martha
Cornog, his wife of nearly 30 years, and artist Jamar Nicholas. He
enjoyed visiting South Street-area bars, where he was sometimes known
as "Uncle Tim" and "Dr. Pepper."
Even while at Rutgers, Perper treated his students to unusual
experiences. "He told me about his 'cockroach lecture' to dramatize
evolution,' said his wife. "He would start by drawing a long parade of
roaches across the blackboard, and then erase many of them--those were
the ones that died young, before they could reproduce. Only the ones
that lived long enough to mate could pass along their genes. And they
sure did--roaches are extremely hardy insects and go back to over 100
million years ago."
Growing up in Greenwich Village, Perper obtained his undergraduate
degree in biology and genetics from CCNY (1961) and a doctorate from
CUNY (1969). He worked briefly in the pharmaceutical industry
(1969-1972) before joining the faculty at Rutgers (1972-1979). Upon
obtaining the Guggenheim grant (1980), he turned to independent
research and worked from home with his wife, a librarian and writer
and sometimes his collaborator. He never tired of watching people
flirt in singles bars. "If the magic is less mysterious than we
thought," he told Forum magazine in 1987 when describing his findings,
"it is no less entrancing."
He is survived by his wife and a nephew, photographer Robert Daniel
Ullmann, who together with Perper's friends and drinking companions
will hold a memorial gathering to honor him on March 14th, 5:00 p.m.,
at the Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia. Contributions in his
memory may be made to the Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia
(www.fleisher.org) and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
(http://cbldf.org).
Written by / Family contact:
Martha Cornog (wife), martha.cornog@yahoo.com
2-2-14
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Friday, January 31, 2014
Sara Duke's biographical sketches of cartoonists book available now (updated)
Biographical Sketches of Cartoonists & Illustrators in the Swann Collection of the Library of Congress
Paperback, 340 Pages
Price: $17.00
Ships in 3-5 business days
Sara Duke's biographical sketches of cartoonists book available now
Years ago, Sara Duke wrote biographical notes for the artists in the Library's original cartoon collection. With her consent, I took her public domain file, edited it, and have turned it into a handy reference tool. This sells at printing cost, and neither of us makes any money on it. Libraries in particular should buy it. - Mike Rhode
Biographical Sketches of Cartoonists & Illustrators in the Swann Collection of the Library of Congress
Paperback, 340 Pages
Price: $17.00
Ships in 3-5 business days
Inside this book are short biographical sketches about the many artists represented in the Library of Congress' Swann Collection compiled by Erwin Swann (1906-1973). In the early 1960s, Swann, a New York advertising executive started collecting original cartoon drawings of artistic and humorous interest. Included in the collection are political prints and drawings, satires, caricatures, cartoon strips and panels, and periodical illustrations by more than 500 artists, most of whom are American. The 2,085 items range from 1780-1977, with the bulk falling between 1890-1970. The Collection includes 1,922 drawings, 124 prints, 14 paintings, 13 animation cels, 9 collages, 1 album, 1 photographic print, and 1 scrapbook.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Monday, November 18, 2013
New issue being mailed
The new issue of the International Journal of Comic Art should be arriving now. Issue 15:2 is 794 pages.
Remember that it's renewal time - $45 for individuals.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Swann Foundation accepting fellowship applications
The Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, administered by the Library of Congress is accepting applications for its graduate fellowship, one of the few in the field, for the 2014-2015 academic year. Deadline for receipt of applications is February 14, 2014. Please email swann@loc.gov or call (202) 707-9115 if you have questions. For criteria, guidelines, and application forms, please see:
Thursday, October 17, 2013
MSU Libraries reprint classic comic Tim Tyler's Luck
I'm a big fan of MSU's Comic Art Collection.
MSU Libraries' Comic Art Preservation Project releases first volume
The Michigan State University Libraries, home to one of the world's largest collections of comic art, have established the Comic Art Preservation Project (CAPP), with the goal of making classic comics more widely available to libraries, collectors, and fans.
The first CAPP volume reprints two and a half years of Tim Tyler's Luck, a Golden Age adventure strip created by Lyman Young and distributed by King Features Syndicate from 1928 to 1996. The reprint is authorized by King Features.
The reprint volume contains daily strips from July 1, 1937 to December 30, 1939, and follows young Tim as he faces wild animals, dangerous criminals, and constant excitement as a member of the "Ivory Patrol," a fictitious law enforcement organization in Africa.
The strips were scanned from original proof sheets in the collections of the Michigan State University Libraries, resulting in a clear, crisp reproduction. The MSU Libraries have more than one million proof sheets from King Features Syndicate, along with more than 200,000 comic books and an extensive collection of books and journals about comic art.
The volume also features an introduction by Reade W. Dornan, a recently retired faculty member from MSU's Department of English. In her lively essay, Dornan examines the pop culture influences of the time – including Westerns, the Rough Riders, and boys' adventure books – and compares the adventure hero Tim exemplified to the superheroes created a decade later.
"The years of Tim Tyler's Luck reissued in these volumes showcase Young's career at the top of his game," says Dornan in the introduction. "By 1937, nine years after the strip started, Young has figured out how to tell a whopping good story."
"Newspaper comic strips like Tim Tyler were – and are – read daily by millions of people, but they're virtually lost to historians if not collected into volumes like this," explains Clifford H. Haka, director of the MSU Libraries. "We're extremely happy to help preserve this wonderful piece of American popular culture."
Tim Tyler's Luck is printed on the MSU Libraries' Espresso Book Machine, and available through Amazon.com for $18 plus shipping: http://amzn.to/17L7ffK.
For more information, contact Ruth Ann Jones, Michigan State University Libraries, 517-884-0910, jonesr@msu.edu.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
