The Secret

by Andrzej Klimowski

In The Secret the Polish artist Klimowski has produced bizarre and disturbing novel-without-words, an unsettling psychological mystery revealed in a sequence of 300 drawings and montages.

A young woman and her two children vanish from their city apartment late at night, leaving a distraught husband to follow a nightmarish trail of signs and images left by their abductors. There is something alarming and almost occult in the force at work in the background, dominated by a giant camera obscura. As in Klimowski's earlier work The Depository, the metamorphosis of daily reality into a dark and sinister other-word of human forms and mutant creatures is gripping.

The Secret takes Klimowski into ambitious new territory, and projects (as in a silent movie) very powerful images of urban neurosis, ambivslance and erotism.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Polish Literature, Horror

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Andrzej Klimowski, who was born to Polish parents in London, retains strong links with Poland, where he lived and worked for some years. During his career he has made films and written graphic novels. He has designed theatre posters and book covers for leading publishers. He was head of Illustration at the Royal College of Art for many years, and is now Professor Emeritus. He continues to produce graphic novels with his wife Danusia Schejbal, and works in graphics and produces illustrations. He also makes films. His work has been the subject of a retrospective at the National Theatre, London.

Reviews

[Julie Rylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

the cover is really promising, maybe almost too promising because then the stakes are high.
the story itself is not that captivating.
some images are strong and they should be cause there is no dialogue so the pictures need to speak for themselves.
I loved the surrealistic add to it.
there is one page with a woman and her eyes closed and in the next her eyes open... that was a magical moment

[Jonathan McNamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awesomingly penetrating book that, while challenging the reader at every turn of the page, relies solely on his/her own interpretations to create the over-all story arch. Starkly rough-drawn in ragged black and white. Breathtaking.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Andrzej Klimowski, found in a used bookstore, all the way from Poland? No, this is a Faber and Faber production, wordless, over 300 pages of pen and ink woodcuts. As the book description says: "A young woman and her two children vanish from their city apartment late at night, leaving a distraught husband to follow a nightmarish trail of signs and images left by their abductors." It has the feel of old silent movies, or Fritz Lang's Metropolis, increasingly sinister to the point of being surreal or even occult. Nightmare is right. The book opens and closes with the image of a giant camera obscura.

What does it add up to? A dark, unsettling image of urban life, infused with paranoia and a dose of erotic images.

[Stephen Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t fully understand what was going on but I absolutely loved the drawings in this book and really enjoyed the story although I’m somewhat baffled as to just what on Earth was going on! Still, gorgeous illustrations and a fairly quick read.

[lastpagereader · Rating 3 out of 5]

a cool one