Unpacking Unflattening: A Conversation

Abstract

Unflattening (2015) is the first comic published by Harvard University Press. It is the book version of Nick Sousanis’ PhD dissertation from Teachers College, Columbia University; a project that has commanded the attention of the comics scholarship community precisely because it is comics as scholarship. This is a collaborative book review in the form of a dialogue between two authors, with each of the reviewers asking the other questions about the book; it is an effort at “unflattening.” In the responses, the reviewers have (wilfully?) misunderstood each other and deviated from the question as they pursue their lines of thought. Unflattening is provocative, and critical comments in the review are a result of Sousanis making us think and question. The reviewers hope that this project is not just a one-off, and that Sousanis and others continue to explore thinking through the multimodal medium of comics.

Keywords

• multimodality
• epistemology
• perception
• philosophy
• Sousanis