The book will be a formal experimentation with the illustrated novel. Images and text will run across each other unravelling a narrative that is chronologically dislocated and fragmented. Three narratives will constitute the structure of the book, two of which will be historical (The Warsaw Uprising, A photographer’s studio in the Austro Hungarian Empire) and one contemporary (a café in London). This work was funded by Faber & Faber. An example of the type of situations is given here – A mortally wounded resistance fighter opens his eyes to find himself alive on the floor of a bombed out apartment. Like Robinson Crusoe, he discovers he is alone, only in a devastated city from which the occupying forces have withdrawn. Defying historical records, the allies do not cross the river to liberate the city and the combatant is forced to make sense of his predicament. A secnd scenario is – A young soldier in Austro-Hungarian uniform is being photographed against a painted backdrop in a photographer’s studio. He turns his profile to a large plate glass camera and assumes a firing position with his rifle pointing towards the window. He fires; the bullet travels around the globe and hits him in the back. The third story could be – A student frequents a café where he eavesdrops on the conversations of a group of old veterans recalling their war experiences.

These stories will interweave to form a narrative tapestry that will establish the book’s design and graphic rendering, which will also be informed by research gathered in historical archives and museums. Together with the designer, Jeff Willis, Klimowski wishes to extend and enrich the narrative into a digital form, which embraces the School of Communication's new ambitions to develop different types of digital forms.