The Idea (wordless novel)

A black-and-white illustration. A naked woman runs along a reel of paper on a printing press as several men in the background watch with surprised and frightened looks on their faces.
The idea, represented as a woman, propagates itself on a printing press.

The Idea (French: Idée, sa naissance, sa vie, sa mort, "Idea, her birth, her life, her death") is a 1920 wordless novel by Flemish artist Frans Masereel (1889–1972). In eighty-three woodcut prints, the book tells an allegory of a man's idea, which takes the form of a naked woman who goes out into the world; the authorities try to suppress her nakedness, and execute a man who stands up for her. Her image is spread through the mass media, inciting a disruption of the social order. Filmmaker Berthold Bartosch made an animated adaptation in 1932.