Life, 1918-09-19 · page 23 of 34
Life — September 19, 1918 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical comic mocks readers struggling to parse modernist literature—likely works by authors like James Joyce or Gertrude Stein, known for experimental prose and fragmented narratives. The sequence shows a woman reader physically contorting herself through twelve panels, her body becoming increasingly distorted as she attempts to interpret a romantic scene between characters "Raoul" and "Elaine." Simple plot points ("love," "kissing") trigger exaggerated emotional responses—writhing, pirouetting, kicking—suggesting the reader is overanalyzing or misinterpreting avant-garde fiction's intentional obscurity. The humor targets educated readers earnestly wrestling with "difficult" modern novels, implying their interpretive gymnastics are as absurd as the experimental texts themselves. It's satire of both pretentious modernism and its conscientious audience.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: 419 The Sad Story of the Conscientious Public Reader Interpreting a Modern Novel 1. In the moot ter 2, “So you no longer love 3. “Love you! Oh my! 4. “Then love has town!” Raoul confronted e. me 1" he hissed shi ha-ha-ed he f nd what after all. i “To me it i she pirouetted coquet- lime in life.” he nol |///)} gern, winereiens, “Oh, this is too much!” to, “Aye,” he frenzied, tr, “Love! Love! Love!” 12, “Ha! Love!” he ex he writhed, “much, much too much!” she deliriumed. ploded. comicbooks.com