Rowson, Martin
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Artist, Author.
(1959- ) UK political cartoonist and latterly author, noted for the scatological savagery of his Satirical portraits of modern British politicians, causing his work to have frequently been likened to the work of eighteenth-century satirists like James Gillray (?1756-1815) and Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), and in the twentieth century to that of Ralph Steadman (1936- ). His weekly Independent on Sunday newspaper cartoon slot "The Abuses of Literacy" (2001-current) mocks literary institutions and authors: past victims of genre relevance include Martin Amis (a favourite target), Roald Dahl, Philip K Dick, Terry Pratchett, J R R Tolkien and Colin Wilson. Of sf interest is Gulliver's Travels: Adapted and Updated (graph 2012), in which a descendant of Lemuel Gulliver (see Gulliver; Jonathan Swift) undergoes similar – though in fact considerably more horrific – experiences. Dr Lionel Gulliver's ordeal is intensified through his being recognized as the original Gulliver's descendant, and having to experience the Dystopian consequences of his ancestor's visits. [JC]
Martin George Edmund Rowson
born London: 15 February 1959
works (selected)
- Gulliver's Travels: Adapted and Updated (London: Atlantic Books, 2012) [graph: illus/hb/Martin Rowson]
links
previous versions of this entry