Ergodic texts: In the Shadow of No Towers
By Esther Claudio
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on-linear reading is a form of interaction with the text which has become increasingly common thanks to the Internet. It is not a new way of reading – the I-Ching, the inscriptions in
Ancient Egypt or Guillaume Apollinaire’s Calligrames offer a kind of interaction where the reader is not forced to follow only one way previously set by the author but he/she can choose the most convenient path, jumping from one text to the other. In comics, arguably the most common instance may be Chris Ware’s works, whose labyrinthine diagrams plunge the reader into a whirlpool of multiple itineraries that depict the complexity of his characters’ feelings and personal stories. Non-linear narrative makes it possible to juxtapose and combine events and to highlight the interconnection between them as well as to create a comprehensive picture of a given experience. For this reason I consider that this narrative style brilliantly depicts the chaos and the fear during September 11th in Art Spiegelman’s In the Shadow of No Towers. At first sight, each page is a shapeless mass of frames which is closer to a collage than to a comic. Paces multiply and there are no clear directions to read it. Take this page, for example. Where to begin? With the title? Or with the biggest panel of all, the round one, in the middle of the lower half of the page which effectively draws our attention? If we observe it and read it, the metaphor of the shoe will drive us to the old- fashioned panels which explain the origin of the “dropping the other shoe” saying. Although if we had started with the title, it would have driven our look at the top of the tower which is behind the word “Towers”. In any case, no matter what path we choose. They’re
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all interconnected. That twisted and hanging panel behind the word “Towers” uncovers a USA flag which is also reproduced in the panel on the left. This frame is included in a group of three images under the title of “The New Normal”, a short strip which serves as a comment about the repercussion of the catastrophe in North American’s daily routine. The strip depicts a sleepy family in front of the television before the terrorist attack, then terrified in the next panel, when it takes place, and sleepy again after the attack. That is to say, the result of the attack, as depicted in the last panel, is a family (or citizens) affected by the tragedy, as their hairs indicate, but as anesthetized as before – as if terror was now normal. Only one thing has changed around them – the flag on the wall, which is on the one hand the symbol of the country, of the citizens’ unity in face of tragedy, and on the other a symbol of the strong patriotism that the event arose. A kind of patriotism which is, sometimes, overwhelming, as Spiegelman visually portrays on the 3 central panels, where he looks astonishingly at a gigantic flag on his television at home. Underneath we can read “Logos […] look enormous on television” – Is this the new normal? Terror? Propagandist patriotism? The analysis of the political use of the tragedy mixes with the fear of a second attack. In a vertical
Spiegelman, A. (2004) In the Shadow of No Towers (New York: Pantheon Books)
strip, we read on top that Spiegelman himself “was sure [they] were going to die” and as we continue reading to the bottom the words combine with the tower collapse. The fear of a second attack seems both absurd and imminent. On the one hand, as the “etymological vaudeville” explains, waiting for
The Comics Grid. Year One. 2011–2012
The Comics Grid. Year One. 2011–2012
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