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“The Insomniac”

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 “The Insomniac” is one of many texts collected in an anthology of P. Craig Russell’s work, titled Isolation and Illusion: Collected Short Stories 1977-1997.  “The Insomniac” depicts the tale of one man’s fitful snatches of sleep in a largely sleepless night.  Because the plot occurs mainly at night, Russell employs realistic illustrations in blue, black, and green that complement and extend the text. Thwarting the protagonists’ attempts at sustained rest, colorful dream fragments—rendered in varying styles ranging from blocky ink brush sketches to surrealism—interject throughout the sleepless night and allude to artists such as Heinz Edelmann, Salvador Dalí, and the author himself. The repetition and failure in the story lend it to pairing with other similar tales of trial and failure, such as the Hellenic myths of Sisyphus and Tantalus.
  • “The Insomniac” by P. Craig Russell
  • High School
  • Dark Horse Comics
  • 10pp.
  • Published 1985
  • ISBN 1-56971-838-5
  • $14.95
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