Schüwer, Martin: Wie Comics erzählen. Grundriss einer intermedialen Erzähltheorie der grafischen Literatur, 2008 (original) (raw)
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Unsettled Narratives: Graphic Novel and Comics Studies in the Twenty-First Century – A Preface
Dialogues between Media
Comic art and graphic narrative constitute a varied and multifaceted chapter in the cultural history of the contemporary age. When comics gained a foothold on the mass-media scene, they appeared as an object that was new, and indefinable. As is often the case when facing a novelty, there was a reactionary response. In fact, the slippery nature of the emerging medium resulted in widespread rejection by the establishment and a variety of negative connotations. Labelled for much of the twentieth century as a genre intended for children, or as second-rate cultural products, or even as morally harmful, in recent times, comics have begun to be re-evaluated by academics, particularly in the West. Even though today there remains a tendency to emphasize the literary value of individual works rather than their nature as sequential art, many negative connotations of the past have given way to an increasing need to understand how the comics medium works and what makes graphic narration so peculiar.
Making meanings with comics : a functional approach to graphic narrative
2017
This thesis proposes that, viewed at the appropriate level of abstraction, pictures can do the work that language does; and a framework that describes the functions served by both will usefully enable discussion of graphic narrative. In the thesis, I outline such a framework, based largely on the work of Michael Halliday, drawing also on the pragmatics of Paul Grice, the Text World Theory of Paul Werth and Joanna Gavins, and ideas from art theory, psychology and narratology. This brings a complete Hallidayan framework of multimodality to comics scholarship for the first time, and extends that tradition of multimodal linguistics to graphic narrative. I owe a debt of gratitude to many who have helped and supported me through the development of this thesis. First and foremost, I must thank Professors M.A.K. Halliday and Ruqaiya Hasan for the inspiration that gave shape to the thesis. Dr J.D. Rhodes helped to shape the initial ideas and gave invaluable feedback on the early stages of exploration and writing. Dr Roberta Piazza's close commentary and advice has been crucial, especially as regards the linguistic theory, and Dr Doug Haynes has supported the project from beginning to end. The University of Sussex Doctoral School and the School of English have provided sources of funding and support throughout. Sussex Downs College staff have been gracious about time needed for academic work, and my students have provided inspiration for, and sometimes testing of, the ideas presented here. The Transitions Symposium team have provided an annual venue for inspiration, development of and feedback about comics theory, as have the editors of Studies in Comics, in particular Dr Julia Round, and of the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. I am indebted to reviewers at these journals for feedback on articles that share material with Chapters 2 and 3, and to Benoît Crucifix for comments on material shared with Chapter 5. Another constant through the process of exploring theory has been the membership of what became the British Consortium of Comics Scholars, including John Miers, Louisa Buck, Nicola Streeten, Dr Paddy Johnston and Dr Thierry Chessum, among many who have joined us. For their help, friendship and lively debate I am deeply grateful. The wider comics scholarship community, in particular at the International Graphic Novels and Comics Conferences, have likewise provided invigorating support and stimulus. On a more personal level, Marina supported me through the start of the process, and Claudia has supported me through to the end, and does so still. This thesis is dedicated to my family and to the memory of my father.
How We Read Comics Now: Literary Studies, Computational Criticism, and the Rise of the Graphic Novel
Modern Fiction Studies, 2021
North American comics have seen tremendous growth in artisan production, a process that has gone hand in hand with the elevation of comics creators to the status of auteurs. Combining computational analysis with cultural sociology, this essay aims to better understand the rise of the graphic novel as an emergent literary genre and offers an alternative to the close readings that dominate comics scholarship. Rather than privileging individual case studies, this essay examines the strategies that have allowed artists to elevate the cultural prestige of graphic narratives and emphasizes the form’s generic and stylistic diversity.
Journal of Literature and Art Studies, 2018
The long-term biased critical reception of comics did not allow the medium's theoretical remodeling, the highlighting of its multidimensionality and complexity, and its establishment as a self-sufficient and serious narrative medium. The creators of graphic novels in an attempt to upgrade and restore their "ancestors'" cultural status and to eliminate the negative stigma of the medium, by taking advantage of the self-referencing techniques, they try to redefine comics and reframe the field of their social practice. Graphic novels, even more, either allusively or straightforwardly, aquire metatextual quality, by exercising critique on the artistic phenomenon in general and on comics' history and theory in particular. Self-referentiality and metatextuality function as 'internal legitimization apparatuses of the medium and provide graphic novels the right to participate in the theoretical discourse, negotiate or even rearticulate it.