Timshel Posted January 29, 2012 Posted January 29, 2012 I have been reading a lot of graphic memoirs lately (e.g. Maus, Persepolis, American Widow, Fun Home, etc.), and I was wondering if anyone knew of any supplementary reading for this area of scholarship. I have been getting into this on my own, so I don't know of any theory, articles, people, anything about this topic. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
bdon19 Posted January 29, 2012 Posted January 29, 2012 Hmmm, I'm not a big fan, but one of my favorite profs is teaching a graphic novel course this term. I'll see if I can snag a syllabus for you!
wintergirl Posted January 29, 2012 Posted January 29, 2012 Timshel, I'll be reading Maus for the first time this semester too. Looking forward to it! I don't know much about the genre either so let us know if you find anything cool. Not sure if you've seen it but here's another, early one that I just read for a different class: http://www.amazon.com/Citizen-13660-Mine-Okubo/dp/0295959894
LauraS24 Posted January 29, 2012 Posted January 29, 2012 There are a bunch and a half of graphic novels I could suggest. Here are some: A Child's Life by Gloeckner Footnotes from Gaza by Sacco Palenstine by Sacco Box Office Poison by Robinson Blankets by Thompson Fun Home by Bechel In the Shadow of No Towers by Speigelman There is an outstanding amount of research on visual literacy and the graphic novel that should be pretty easy to access. Most of the close reading stuff has only been done on the most widely read novels but there should be some information on them. There has been a lot of talk on profhacker about graphic novels and many sample syllabi you should be able to find. I've had some great success teaching some of these. coffeeplease 1
perrykm2 Posted January 29, 2012 Posted January 29, 2012 You should read Asterios Polyp or City of Glass (from Paul Auster's NY Trilogy.) Both are illustrated by David Muzzucchelli. They're pretty high quality. I think a lot of popular graphic novels are kind of shitty, but these are great. wreckofthehope 1
perrykm2 Posted January 29, 2012 Posted January 29, 2012 Oh, you want only memoirs. Never mind, then.
Grunty DaGnome Posted January 29, 2012 Posted January 29, 2012 (edited) Did any of you ever read The Arrival by Sean Tan? It's a graphic novel -- completely told through illustrations -- about immigrating, told/drawn by an Australian author. I think Americans, myself included, always privilege New York as the emigre destination of choice. I thought it was nice to construct a narrative out of Tan's illustrations that wasn't ever inconsistent with the turn of the century NY immigrant story, but which was definitely set somewhere else. It made the process of immigrating/acculturating feel so much more universal. Edited January 29, 2012 by Grunty DaGnome
coffeeplease Posted January 29, 2012 Posted January 29, 2012 Pyongyang by Guy Delisle is good -- it's about the 2 months he spent living and working in North Korea.
reflect2 Posted January 29, 2012 Posted January 29, 2012 I was wondering if anyone knew of any supplementary reading for this area of scholarship. I have been getting into this on my own, so I don't know of any theory, articles, people, anything about this topic. Hillary Chute at Chicago has done a lot of work on comics and graphic memoirs. I taught Maus a few years ago and assigned this (I think it's her first article) along with it: http://www.jstor.org/pss/20479765
JeremiahParadise Posted January 29, 2012 Posted January 29, 2012 If you haven't already, you should check out Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. Great read -- and really helpful! wreckofthehope and JeremiahParadise 2
Timshel Posted April 2, 2012 Author Posted April 2, 2012 (edited) I am currently working on something with graphic memoirs, so I am bumping this topic. Does anyone have any reading suggestions for texts on visual rhetoric? Edited April 2, 2012 by Timshel
rdsull89 Posted April 3, 2012 Posted April 3, 2012 A friend of mine is doing an honors thesis on autobiographical graphic novels, and we're presenting on Wednesday, so I'll let you know if anything useful comes up!
Timshel Posted April 3, 2012 Author Posted April 3, 2012 A friend of mine is doing an honors thesis on autobiographical graphic novels, and we're presenting on Wednesday, so I'll let you know if anything useful comes up! Awesome! Thanks! Have you heard anything about your UCR waitlist? I'm pretty positive I'll be accepting their offer.
rdsull89 Posted April 9, 2012 Posted April 9, 2012 Awesome! Thanks! Have you heard anything about your UCR waitlist? I'm pretty positive I'll be accepting their offer. Sorry Timshel, it seems it was a bust. He used mostly film and other visual theory, but wasn't very specific. No word yet, but I did visit and the chances seem fairly good.
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