“You always need someone else,” said author Kristen Radtke regarding her book “Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness.” While on campus on Thursday, Oct. 3 for Colgate University’s Living Writers series, Radtke discussed her book and presented a soon to be published comic series in Persson Hall.
Her book, a mixture of personal anecdotes, cultural history, journalism, social science, psychology and more is something new altogether, with no preexisting genre to categorize it. Associate Professor of History Alexander (Xan) Karn, who introduced the book to Professor of English and creative writing Jennifer Brice — the organizer of the Living Writers series — provided a description of the book.
“[The book is] a model of how a liberal arts college ought to work, casting […] a multidisciplinary lens on a problem,” Karn said.
From exploring ideas such as the cowboy in America, the princess in the tower and the fundamental loneliness of being a writer, Radtke’s book is relatable and touching.
As she introduced Radtke, Brice commented on how the book should be understood.
“‘Seek You’ is not meant to be a downer, but a delight; a feast for the mind and senses. It is a book about loneliness that will paradoxically make you feel less alone,” Brice said.
What makes “Seek You” so emotionally compelling is its seamless blend of illustration and text. The text and illustrations work harmoniously together, with the images always complimenting or complicating the text. When creating the book, Radtke really considered the color — or lack of color — in the illustrations because she considers color as its own language. Her book is divided into several smaller sections titled “Listen,” “Watch,” “Click” and “Touch,” which allows the reader to explore loneliness through all the senses. One of the larger sections of her book explores American psychologist Harry Harlow’s personal life and his experiments on monkeys. She chose to include psychology, as loneliness is a biological feature. Her considerations of Harlow’s work gave the book a more scientific approach to loneliness and shifted the focus away from her personal life.
During the Living Writers event, the audience had the privilege of viewing Radtke’s brand-new piece which was completed just the morning of the event. This comic was innately personal and helped the audience contrast how Radtke explored philosophical ideas in “Seek You” to see how she uses art to explore the more intimate parts of her life.
Brice spoke about the event.
“It was a terrific event — one of the best in my 15 years of running the program,” Brice said. “It was unusual and generous of [Radtke] to share brand-new work, and her primer on how to read graphic narratives was really illuminating.”
Radtke’s crash course on graphics after reading her new piece was insightful. She broke down different elements of graphic illustration looking at framing and perspective, pace and visual silence and visual argument and interruption.
First-year Olivia Michael, a student in the Living Writers course, found that the event changed her perspective on the impact of graphics.
“Her presentation on graphics was very informative and prompted me to look at graphic illustrations in a way that I had not considered before,” Michael said. “Until now, I had not thought of all the intricate ways that pictures can tell a story and how many things go on behind the scenes to make the emotions of the image come to life.”
It was also evident from the way Radtke interacted with community members that she was not only enthusiastic to share her work and creative processes but also to get to know the audience. First-year Lottie Allen-Emerson, a student in the Living Writers course, commented on the engaging nature of Radtke’s presentation.
“The way she was interested in students by asking what they were studying at Colgate when they asked her a question was very thoughtful and showed that she was genuinely excited to be on our campus and interact with the students,” Allen-Emerson said.
Her thoughtfulness was especially evident when the time came for her to start signing books. Those lucky enough to get their book signed by Radtke noticed that right below the title page of “Seek You” was a Radtke original: a 10-second quick draw of the person she was talking to.
Currently, Radtke is the Creative Director for The Verge, a technology news website by Vox Media. Stay tuned for her new piece, which will be published on The Verge soon. She hopes to use her job to make space for new work and new ideas in the creative world.
