Visualizing Loneliness in Kristen Radtke’s Seek You

Seek You begins with an Author’s Note that acknowledges the unavoidable. Kristen Radtke writes that she began working on the book of graphic nonfiction about loneliness in 2016 when the topic “wasn’t a subject I heard people talk about very often.” Since then, the conversation around loneliness has expanded, and it continues to evolve as we emerge from isolation. While this preface is the book’s only section that mentions the pandemic, it offers no panacea, only an honest admission that Radtke can’t envision how “we might acquaint ourselves with one another again.” As a first step, she assures us “loneliness is one of the most universal things any person can feel,” directing our attention to the timelessness, rather than the timeliness, of this emotion. Loneliness was already present in American life, and it will persist even after this period is a distant memory.

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