Da lontano e da vicino. Lo sguardo complesso dei Quaderni di Igort = From a long distance and a short one. The complex gaze of the Igort's Notebooks

Abstract

From a long distance and a short one. The complex gaze of the Igort's Notebooks. The present article focuses on two works by the comics creator Igort, The Ukranian Notebooks and The Russian Notebooks, that describe the atrocities of the Holodomor and of the Russian-Chechen war. The analysis of these comic-books implies a reflection on the problem of distance (close, not close, distant, not distant) from their sources and the reality, a central issue in any historical, journalistic or documentary narrative. Applying the analytic tools of structural semiotics and of the historiography of present times, this article illustrates the complex strategy of getting close and moving away realised by Igort with the purpose of representing a specific reality. At the same time, it argues about some theoretical issues concerning the use of witnesses, testimonies, and documents among the disciplines that aspire to tell about a historical or cultural reality