Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness

 
　　「孤獨」無所不在，長久以來，人們卻怯於談論，甚至對它有許多誤解。如今，人們大幅減少外出、聚會，「孤獨」正在社會中無聲蔓延，克莉絲汀．拉德克(Kristen Radtke)的第二部圖像作品，來得正是時候。
 
　　在一次與家人的談話中，拉德克意外得知自己嚴厲、習慣用命令式語氣對孩子說話的父親，原來有很長一段時間，總是在夜裡撥弄無線電，向寂靜的空氣發送CQ(Seek You) call，秘密傳達內心對連結的渴望：有人在嗎？聽到請回答……。
 
　　猶如為這個時代量身打造的紙上紀錄片，從父親的秘密無線電台，與她自己的生活經驗談起，拉德克在這部兼具深度與廣度的圖像作品中，檢視網路聊天室、情境喜劇的罐頭笑聲、Instagram的崛起、心理學家哈洛著名的恆河猴實驗等等，描繪出人們對孤立處境的深層焦慮，以及對人際關係的需求。
 
　　結合社會科學、演化生物學、流行文化觀察、故事與圖像，這部內容豐富的作品將填滿孤單，告訴你：你並不寂寞，我們都一樣。(文/博客來編譯)

From the acclaimed author of Imagine Wanting Only This--a timely and moving meditation on isolation and longing, both as individuals and as a society.

There is a silent epidemic in America: loneliness. Shameful to talk about and often misunderstood, loneliness is everywhere, from the most major of metropolises to the smallest of towns.

In Seek You, Kristen Radtke’s wide-ranging exploration of our inner lives and public selves, Radtke digs into the ways in which we attempt to feel closer to one another, and the distance that remains. Through the lenses of gender and violence, technology and art, Radtke ushers us through a history of loneliness and longing, and shares what feels impossible to share.

Ranging from the invention of the laugh-track to the rise of Instagram, the bootstrap-pulling cowboy to the brutal experiments of Harry Harlow, Radtke investigates why we engage with each other, and what we risk when we turn away. With her distinctive, emotionally-charged drawings and deeply empathetic prose, Kristen Radtke masterfully shines a light on some of our most vulnerable and sublime moments, and asks how we might keep the spaces between us from splitting entirely.

KRISTEN RADTKE is the author of the graphic nonfiction book Imagine Wanting Only This. The recipient of a 2019 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant, Radtke is the art director and deputy publisher of The Believer. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Marie Claire, The Atlantic, The Guardian, GQ, Vogue, and Oxford American, among many other publications.