a novel for viewers
LO HARTOG VAN BANDA
THÉ TJONG-KHING
FORE WORD
TO THE VIEWERS OF THIS BOOK IN
this book, “seeing” comes first, and “reading” comes second. However, it is not a book for lazy readers. Under the influence of modern means of communication, there has been a shift from reading words to reading images. This is a different form of reading and has nothing to do with laziness. It would be a bad thing if this shift were to encourage lazy thinking. But in fact, we see the opposite happening. Young people are more socially engaged than the previous generations. The whole world affects them because they can see the whole world. Television images are more appealing than newspaper articles, which the editors’ opinions often color. The image is more objective than the word and thus generates independent thinking. Viewers are more critical than readers: “I’ll believe it when I see it,” or “I don’t see things that way,” or “That remains to be seen” — so many expressions involving the verb “to see” bear witness to a person’s own position or “point of view.” And even if someone’s opinion might sometimes be a little youthfully premature, this is still preferable to the unthinking acceptance of words and slogans that glorious leaders have all too often employed to send younger generations into the flames. Iris is, therefore, first and foremost, a book for viewers. Not a comic in the usual form — but an experiment in which Khing and I were searching for new paths. We did not know where those paths would take us because the figures soon began to lead their own lives, making our story subservient to their whims. The manner of storytelling — with which we wanted to give viewers the role of spectator while also attempting to involve them in the story — contributed to this development, too. The emphasis shifted to impressions and emotions more than events: how Iris experiences something became more important than what she experiences. And as we tried to show the reader those things through her eyes, we named her IRIS. 3 Lo Hartog van Banda, 1968 3
tHeN I HaVe oNly OnE Way To gEt tO HeR…
I HaVe tO GeT ThRoUgH!
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D EeaCh n i rE aGe ... To e sThOw tH mE sO
aTtEnTiOn!
LeT HiM ThRoUgH! nOw!
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My vOiCe?
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ThAt’s mE… aNd i’m sInGiNg tHe lOvE CaLl!
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