Digital drama “Glass Thoughts”: Conspiracy in the head

The traditional Zurich publisher Edition Moderne has long been known for books that are visually and haptically appealing. One has recently been added, which is also a formal experiment. When you pick up the book, you first think of strips in landscape format.

But far from it: In “Transparent Thoughts” (640 p., 19 €), the current book by Matthias Gnehm (“Salzhunger”), you hold the spine up and scroll through the pages as if you were reading on your cell phone. This is also possible with the digital version of the comic, which can be read here for free.

The unusual format not only allows special perspectives on streets, buildings and the movements of the actors, but also fits perfectly with the story of a writer who does not write, but records his stream of thoughts – so to speak, in perfection of the literary experiments of James Joyce and others.

In contrast to the “modern” design of the book, Gnehm’s black-white-grey drawings, some of which appear to have been hastily thrown together, are conspicuously classic to old-fashioned. But they create a gloomy, washed-out atmosphere, which in turn fits the subject of the book.

Because Markus, the protagonist, not only slides into a marriage and creative crisis in the course of the gripping story, but also into a possible conspiracy. Anyone who has ever thought that one day historians will attribute the downfall of western societies to digitization – and in particular to digital communication – will feel confirmed here, at least in phases.

The same applies to anyone who distrusts the data octopuses and thieves of the big Internet companies. But the culture pessimists should be told: All is not lost yet! At least not in Gnehm’s book. Anyone who gets involved in his storytelling and drawing art will be richly rewarded.

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