English 4 - Spring, 2014

Critical Inquiry & Literature

Topic: Graphic Novelties: The Graphic Novel and the Visual Poem

Class Information

Instructor: Kitses, Jasmine
CRN: 22414
Time: MW 10:00-11:50
Location: 248 Voorhies

Description

Graphic novels often range far beyond traditional narrative formats to include historical fiction, memoir, poetry, short stories, and more, so why are they still called “graphic novels”? Is a graphic novel just a story told through pictures, or does the term suggest something more “novel” in the sense of being “new, strange, [and] unusual”? As authors continue to experiment with the formal possibilities of graphic novels, this course will rethink the graphic novel genre as a form of visual poetry. We begin with an exploration of works by poetic and visual innovators, such as William Blake, Stéphane Mallarmé, F.T. Marinetti, Max Ernst, and Steve McCaffery. Building on our analysis of what constitutes a “visual poem,” we will then examine a series of recent graphic novels on topics ranging from the holocaust, the Iranian Revolution, LGBT family relations, Allen Ginsberg’s 1956 poem Howl, and the negotiation of identity in adolescent culture, before taking a look at Chris Ware’s 3-dimensional genre-busting text, Building Stories. Ultimately, we will use the framework of poetic innovation to consider what makes graphic texts “novel” and to explore how the particulars of visual form reconfigure the concept of literary genres, including that of the graphic novel itself.

Grading

15% Attendance and Participation
15% Smartsite Postings
10% Dissections
20% Close Reading Essay
30% Comparative Essay
10% Final

Texts

McCloud, Scott, Understanding Comics
Spiegelman, Art, Maus I & II
Clowes, Daniel, Ghost World
Satrapi, Marjane, Persepolis 1: The Story of a Childhood
Bechdel, Allison, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Drooker, Eric, Howl: A Graphic Novel
Yeng, Gene Luen, American Born Chinese