Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis
This wildly ambitious graphic novel is a fictional (auto?)biography of Bertrand Russell and traces his journey from doubt to certainty and back again.
It is littered with the lofty ideas of the many giants of mathematics and philosophy throughout, but is never daunting in its subject matter or too overreaching in its objectives. A list of the co-stars might be enough to induce you to stop reading this review, so I restrain myself from indulging.
The self-referential presentation, which shows the creators struggling with the same questions, helps the readers get into the real spirit of the ‘Quest’ and enjoy the ride and its uncertainties instead of agonizing over the answers that are guaranteed to never come in any case.
The comic sags a bit once the obsession with the theme of ‘logicians and madness’ threatens to run away with it and obscure the real story. But, the precisely mad and inanely confident ‘Side-Kick’ to our ‘Super Hero’ (read Russell) comes traipsing into the story with perfect timing and livens up the story and thickens the plot into a right stew. With Wittgenstein thus in the mix, Russell gets comfy in being true to his character (destiny?) and takes us to the logical conclusion of the pursuit of Truth – to Philosophy.
Fittingly enough, the story concludes with the legendary closing scene of Oresteia, which perhaps makes the whole experience more profound than it really deserved to be, but then that is the fun of great ideas – you never know when they are only pretending!
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