Little Red Riding Hood in Plato’s Cave | Interview with Soloúp in the Journalists’ Newspaper.

Soloúp, to mark the publication of his new graphic novel *The Collector: Six Stories About a Bad Wolf*, gave an interview to Yannis Koukoulas for *Efimerida ton Syntakton*. You can read it below: I’ve just finished reading your book and I won’t hide the fact that I went through a lot of tissues wiping away my tears. Was it your intention to evoke such emotion? When you try to tell such an emotionally charged story, it overwhelms you, the writer, first and foremost. You don’t think about whether this particular narrative will move others. You wish for it and hope for it, of course, but at that moment it doesn’t really concern you that much. The overriding concern is to clearly articulate the questions that ‘gnaw’ at your protagonist and then to confront him with them. What preoccupied me whilst working on *The Collector* was what stance Dionysis would take in the face of the absurd situations arising in his life, as well as the bureaucratic, almost Kafkaesque, justice system that regards fathers as ‘guilty until proven innocent’ from the outset. The hero’s struggle to stand tall without simultaneously distancing himself from his child, Fotinoula, is probably what really tugs at the heartstrings. Let’s see. You’re one of the first readers of ‘The Collector’, so you give me hope that the graphic novel ‘works’. I’m eagerly awaiting readers’ reactions.How did it come about, particularly after ‘Aivali’ and your unconventional take on the turbulent history of Greek-Turkish relations, that you’d write a book about family and separation? I have several scripts in the pipeline that engage with history. One of them, in fact, has been ready since the time I was working on ‘Aivali’ and is set in the same period. I hope one day you’ll see it in its finished form. For the time being, I deliberately wanted to avoid the well-known trap that writers fall into when, after a successful work, they try to repeat themselves.It was therefore a challenge to tackle something completely different, let alone a burning social issue such as the psychological – and not only psychological – ‘abuse’ of those involved in a divorce.What connection does Antonis Nikolopoulos have with Dionysis in the story? Does the book contain autobiographical elements or is it a work of fiction? Just as you put it, my name is Antonis, and the protagonist is Dionysis. Life is always something different from a book. The story of a book constitutes a closed universe. Life, on the other hand, is open. Uncharted, subversive and unpredictable. It is precisely these absurd – as Camus describes them – characteristics of ‘reality’ that are, at the same time, what feed fiction and artistic creation: in novels, screenplays, music and paintings.I would therefore say that it matters little to a reader whether the story of a book, such as *The Collector*, concerns the author, so long as the problems it addresses exist everywhere out there. Stories that are often far more traumatic and painful than Dionysis’s, and which poison the lives of thousands of people.There are problematic divorces that alienate children from their parents, with no meaningful support from the institutions (psychologists, social workers, etc.) and a justice system that ends up being part of the problem rather than the solution. It is an issue that all the relevant bodies are aware of, but nobody speaks openly about it.So the heroes may be fictional, but the situations experienced by thousands of people like Dionysis – and, sadly, all over the world – can hardly be described as mere fiction. I know I’ll be prying if I ask who Little Red Riding Hood’s daughter is, to whom you’ve dedicated the book. But I’ll do so, since you’ve devoted an entire chapter to her. The fifth chapter of the graphic novel reinterprets the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood. There are countless variations of the fairy tale, from the earliest folk narratives and Perrault’s version right up to the present day. The most widely known and illustrated version is that of the Brothers Grimm. What is interesting is that in the Grimm brothers’ version – they themselves being ‘collectors’ of fairy tales – they also include a second variation, in which it is Little Red Riding Hood herself who kills the big bad wolf.This second ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ forms the basis in the graphic novel for a new interpretation of the fairy tale aimed at a contemporary audience, namely Little Red Riding Hood’s daughter. She is the one who, with the necessary distance from the tensions, could understand that modern fairy tales do not only feature good and evil characters.Why do you use the term ‘big bad wolf’ for your protagonist in the subtitle? Things in life aren’t black and white. Likewise, the people around us aren’t just good or just bad. Every character harbours many personalities and emotions. On the other hand, how we describe things depends on where we stand and how we view them. A wolf is ‘bad’ because someone wants to see it that way. Someone else might see it differently. That is why, across the six chapters of the graphic novel, I have tried to follow Dionysis’s story from different perspectives: that of the neighbour, a canary, the grandfather and grandmother, the hare, and finally, of course, to present Dionysis’s own subjective view of what he is experiencing. In your book, reality and fantasy are inextricably intertwined. Little Red Riding Hood, Alice in Wonderland, a refugee struggling to save a little bird, a huge cage atop the Acropolis, and Little Loulou all become elements of a multi-layered narrative. How would you describe your book in 100 words? You don’t need that many words. Just two are enough to describe the feelings of the book’s main character, in the rain under an umbrella: ‘Silent scream’.And what about Plato’s cave? Are we all chained and seeing only shadows? And who are those who show them to us, misleading us? In Plato’s ‘Republic’ there is the remarkable allegory of the cave. A text written almost 2,500 years ago that describes with chilling clarity – one might say prophetically – the ‘isms’ that subsequently swept through human societies. ‘Isms’ that, over time, nourish people and are nourished by their minds and bodies. Religions and ideologies which, through dogmas, aphorisms, slogans and absolute truths, mask the anxieties of the masses by offering them idealised solutions or redemptions.It does not matter so much, then, according to Plato himself, who the ‘deceivers’ are on any given occasion, as the fact that what gives rise to and perpetuates this particular condition is the inability of human societies to face the truth of existence head-on.In the foreword, you use a phrase from Kafka’s *The Trial*: ‘And now I advise you to go to your room, sit quietly and wait to see what they decide about you’. How did you come to choose this? When I first read Kafka at a younger age, he seemed exaggerated to me. As I’ve grown older, however, I’ve realised more and more often just how ‘Kafkaesque’ many situations in real life can turn out to be. A father, for example, like Dionysis, who, for no justifiable reason, is unable to communicate with his child, whilst at the same time being caught up in an absurd saga of court adjournments, is not dissimilar to Josef K. in Kafka’s *The Trial*, as we watch him march towards his predetermined doom.Among other things, there are reservations and a harsh, bitter critique of the Greek justice system and the police. How much can a citizen trust these institutions today? It depends on whose perspective you take, that of the perpetrator or the victim. Although both are clearly institutional manifestations of the ruling power, we perceive them differently as individuals when, say, ‘100’ and rush to the police officer to protect you from an injustice, and differently when a ‘cop’ beats you up at a demonstration. On the other hand, the conventions, the theatrics and the conventional lies played out in courtrooms, with legal tricks, lawyers’ tactics, coached false witnesses and bureaucracy.What is certain, however, regarding this specific issue, is that the Greek justice system lags considerably behind developments in Europe and the rest of the world.‘Parental alienation’ syndrome, for example, was recently classified as a disease by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Here, nobody cares. Trapped in pre-packaged decisions, ignoring the concept of joint custody that is gaining ground everywhere and readily placing the burden on fathers, the justice system not only fails to offer solutions but remains, rather, part of the problem.You have been an experienced political cartoonist and creator of humorous comics for almost 30 years. Suddenly ‘Aivali’ appeared, and now ‘The Collector’. Did you realise that you’re getting older and want to make sure you say other things besides just making readers laugh? Life is unpredictable and has room for everything, both comedies and dramas. Every new situation we encounter challenges us in a different way and requires a different approach. After so many years, sketching has probably become an instinctive way of thinking and reacting in my mind.I would therefore describe it as a happy coincidence to be able to sketch using different approaches – humour, political satire, graphic novels – for issues that concern us all. A situation that allows you to think and express yourself whilst simultaneously distancing you from the situations. Are comics a suitable medium and tool for telling such difficult stories, ranging from political and historical issues to traumatic personal experiences?To my surprise, through what I am gradually discovering in my work, but also through what I see, enjoy and admire in the work of so many cartoonists all over the world, yes! Comics, now fully mature, are a wonderful art form that continues to evolve, combining words with images and constantly discovering new narrative paths.In Greece, in fact, we are currently witnessing a remarkable boom in comics, owing their strong roots to the years of ‘Vavel’ and ‘Para Pente’.After ‘The Collector’, what can we expect: Have you started work on your next project? ‘The Collector’ has only just begun and ‘Aivali’ still has a long way to go. There are exciting things in the pipeline for both. On the other hand, you need some time to understand what will come next. That doesn’t mean there aren’t already many different scripts at a fairly advanced stage waiting in the wings.