Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Humument

Is there a narrative?

When one goes to read a novel they are expected to go progressively page by page. When one reads a poetry anthology the form suggests the possibility of an important for reading order but this isn’t always necessary. Reading an artists monograph is different as well. The images stand coherently on there own and can be addressed individually as well as in different orders. With the considerations of how an audience approaches different forms it is interesting to think about how the form of a book dictates how it is read. From this inquiry one can then address the question of narrative.
I first approached the book as a novel. There seemed to be a sort of narrative and maybe a romantic interaction between two character. I also read a large portion of the book out of order. Many of the pages seemed to stand of the context of others. This approach is helped by the visuals with stand very distinctly from one an other as opposed to sequential design/cartoons.

Do the visuals distract?
Having said that the form of the book yields different meanings depending on the interpretation of its form, the visuals steer the viewers to addressing pages as individual pieces. The visual aspect of the book as well as the form of the text makes the order puzzling as well. But the order, meaning, and interpretation of certain pages is guided by the visuals.

More importantly than the factor of the narrative I find it interesting that the author/artist is critiquing the layers of meaning possible within art/literature. The work functions off of a variety of levels: language, novel, poem, picture, and the increasing editing of the work itself. It is interesting to acknowledge each layer as well as there interplay.