Unflattening is a graphic novel by artist and researcher Nick Sousanis that was originally the first dissertation from Columbia University to be written in a comic book format. The book was published by Harvard University Press in April 2015 and won the 2015 Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, taking top honor as book of the year. The Brazilian edition of the book (Desaplanar, editora Veneta, published in 2017), won the 2018 Troféu HQ Mix in category "best theoretical book".
A work whose multimodal and visual presentation and meandering structure is an implementation of its thesis, that of pluralism of perspectives and thought in order to unfold and unflatten the world around us in order to see it better, and thereby to escape the flat prison society lets us fall into. Powerful imagery with enjoyable, lucid philosophizing, and packed full of cultural references.
I was given this as a gift, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a delightful graphical text, winding together of threads from across a number of different fields of philosophy.
As a demonstration of the medium, it's a compelling existence case for effective philosophical communication in sequential art. The monochrome imagery really helps capture complexity and nuance. Making ideas accessible, while there is a certain exploratory, introductory character to them, it would be very wrong to call the effect superficial. The artwork, rather, draws the reader in, invites further consideration and contemplation.
The themes are some that are of particular interest to me, on the dynamism and radically incomplete character of being, identity, and knowledge. I work in the area, and would consider this a rich and worthy way of getting into these issues. I think this would make an excellent text to work with with students, for instance - certainly …
I was given this as a gift, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a delightful graphical text, winding together of threads from across a number of different fields of philosophy.
As a demonstration of the medium, it's a compelling existence case for effective philosophical communication in sequential art. The monochrome imagery really helps capture complexity and nuance. Making ideas accessible, while there is a certain exploratory, introductory character to them, it would be very wrong to call the effect superficial. The artwork, rather, draws the reader in, invites further consideration and contemplation.
The themes are some that are of particular interest to me, on the dynamism and radically incomplete character of being, identity, and knowledge. I work in the area, and would consider this a rich and worthy way of getting into these issues. I think this would make an excellent text to work with with students, for instance - certainly at undergraduate level, and perhaps at secondary school too.
Highly recommended.
Every page is a work of art and, as with the best art, often illuminating some idea. It's a bit dense (in a good way!), and as is often the case with me and poetry, I had to read in short bursts so as not to be distracted from the current page by thoughts formed in pages I'd just read. I look forward to returning to it again and seeing connections and ideas expressed in the imagery that I no doubt missed the first time through.
Highly recommended!
