CONTRACT WITH GOD, A 117
bookstores, however, were uncertain regarding the placement of such a work. Th e book
was republished by Kitchen Sink Press in 1985 and reissued again in 2001 as part of
DC Comics’ Th e Will Eisner Library imprint. Its most recent incarnation was in 2006,
when it was published by W. W. Norton as one constituent of A Contract with God
trilogy. Eisner had originally considered “A Tenement in the Bronx” for his title but
Baronet felt that the word tenement may be not be easily recognizable outside of New
York, utilizing the name of the fi rst story instead (Andelman 2005, 288). Since its fi rst
appearance, A Contract with God has been published in at least 11 languages, including
Yiddish, a language probably very familiar to many of the characters in these tales.
In his preface to the trilogy, Eisner cites the infl uence of Otto Nuchel, Franz Masareel,
and Lynd Ward in creating this seminal work, which has, in turn, become an inspiration
for others illustrating autobiographical and ethnographic stories. Eisner also states that
he deliberately set aside what he considered the two basic working constrictions of the
comic book medium: space and format. His stories are not delineated by formalized
panels or by page count, but evolve naturally from the narration itself. His dramatic
illustrations, evocative character sketches, and splash pages draw the reader into the
lives of the (mostly) unfortunate people of Dropsie Avenue. Eisner evokes a strong
sense of claustrophobia as the characters are consistently observed through architec-
tural borders such as doorframes and window sills. “Th ough the melodramatic aspects
of the presentation of the story certainly lend credence to a reading of the presentation
as Eisner’s willingness to show off his love of storm and stress—to say nothing of tip-
ping his hat to the pathetic fallacy—it may be possible to suggest that the visuals here
once more serve to demonstrate the way in which confi nement is a major theme in Eis-
ner’s work, one that allows him to defi ne: to defi ne Jews as a particular kind of people,
to defi ne his memories in a kind of specifi c context” (Dauber 2006, 291). Claims of
visual stereotypes have been made against the work but it might also be argued that
Eisner used these stereotypes to underline his defi nition of the Jewish people and his
memories of his youth (Dauber 2006, 298). At the same time, all of the characters are
distinctly human, not necessarily likeable, but identifi able as individuals beyond the
confi nes of the tenement, era, and ethnicity in which the stories are placed.
Th e four separate tales are connected by the setting at 55 Dropsie Avenue, a tene-
ment in the New York Bronx’s area, remembered, imagined, and revisited by Eisner in
subsequent works. Frimme Hersh, the landlord in the title story, is portrayed as a pious
man who, after deciding that the contract he has made with God has been nullifi ed by
the death of his adopted daughter Rachele, throws the physical contract out the win-
dow and proceeds to act out his anger and anguish against his new tenants and neigh-
bors at the recently purchased 55 Dropsie Avenue. Eventually, he becomes remorseful
regarding his behavior and convinces the reluctant rabbis to draw up a new contract.
Ironically, the excitement in receiving the new contract results in Hersh having a fatal
heart attack. Eisner revealed much later that Hersh’s torment and pain was modeled on
his own after the death of his own daughter Alice of leukemia almost a decade before
the story was fi rst published.
