The Silence of the Page
Une trop bruyante solitude – The Graphic Novel Adaptation of Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal
in European Comic ArtAll currencies in US Dollar
This article discusses the issues faced by two French artists who have produced a bande dessinée adaptation of a novel, říliš hlučná samota ['Too Loud a Solitude'], by the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal, and the reception of their work in the Czech comics community. In adapting the novel to another medium, the artists have not merely illustrated the original, but have used a variety of techniques intended to convey its emotional coloration and its self-referentiality. Furthermore, they have changed its context from Prague during the Communist era to twenty-first-century Lyon at a time when the jobs of print workers are threatened by out-sourcing. The article argues that the adaptation thereby enhances the contemporary resonance of the original.