The book’s three narrative axes, as they are divided into their corresponding volumes in the e-book, coexist in order here, thus offering a tight narrative sequence. The page layout of the book, as one flips through it, offers more surprises and … twists and turns during the reading process. Finally, the information in the appendix to the book offers a deeper understanding of the facts and invites the reader to refer to the original texts and visual representations if he or she wishes to.
1821 graphic novel (e–book)
The e-book “1821 graphic novel” (870 pages), is divided into three volumes, and is comprised of an original workshop. In it, readers get to see behind the print book, the pencils and the rough drafts, notes, and references to other works. With the possibilities that we were offered by the H.F.R.I programme we are now carrying out for the first time – at least as regards the narrative literature of the visual arts in the Greek language – one such large in scope exhibition about the actual creation of a comic book, with storyboards, sketches from the pencil stage and an extensive appendix with a complete bibliography and references.
An e-book cannot replace paper, living rooms, the sense of leafing through a book, the interactive relationship with an actual object. It may however become its extension and possibly something much more. A chance for the reader to be in the sketching studio, to peek through the “secrets” of creation, to try different reading paths, and even to attempt to convert this material into a research tool or as a means of education.
The three volumes
The e-book is divided into three volumes:
- The first volume, “The Battle of the Square”, is comprised of 21 chapters in narrative form. The scene is set in modern Athens, under the shadow of the statue of the mounted Kolokotronis outside the old parliament building.
- The second volume, “Our History is Many People’s Stories”, is also comprised of 21 self-contained chapters which correspond to specific writers, fighters, and historians.
- The third volume, “21 Figures” attempts to compose an alternative narration through the portraits of 21 figures who are directly or indirectly connected to the Struggle. The most important contribution of the third volume is the appendix with detailed information that guides the readers and unlocks the graphic novel. The possibility of reading the volumes simultaneously or in whatever sequence the reader wishes, and with immediate access to information in the appendix, creates the prerequisites for a multimodal, interactive reading which places the audience in the position of the researcher.
(For the time being, the e-book is only available upon request, for research or educational purposes.)