The Graphic Novel
Class Information
Instructor: Stratton, Matthew
CRN: 54905
Time: TR 9:00-10:20
Location: 1150 Hart
Description
We are long past the moment when sequential visual images combined with narrative language needed to be defended as literature worth serious study. Nonetheless, we will take the question of aesthetic, literally, historical, and political value seriously as we critically survey old and new
masterpieces of the graphic novel genre. By reading graphic novels alongside key theoretical texts (some of which are themselves composed as graphic narratives), we will develop a critical vocabulary and analytical approach to these works that is up to the unique challenges and opportunities that they afford readers, writers, visual artists, and perhaps even cultures as a whole.
Grading
Essay #1 25%
Essay #2 35%
Quizzes 15%
Final Exam 25%
Texts
La Perdida, Jessica Abel
Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
Black Hole, Charles Burns
My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Emil Ferris
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
Maus, Art Spiegelman
Nat Turner, Kyle Baker