I jumped at the chance to focus on graphic memoirs for this genre project. I grew up reading Calvin and Hobbes and a variety of manga series. I’d never read Maus, but it’s always been a favorite of my dad’s, and I absolutely loved reading Persepolis for my CTW freshman year. Of course, I knew it might be difficult to find sources (and it was), but I figured the effort would be worth it.
I was able to find quite a few sources that traced the history of graphic memoirs, but it’s been trickier finding sources that focus on criticism of the genre as a whole. There was a lot of scholarship about individual pieces, but not much that took a more general view. As a newer genre really only coming out of the 1980s, this wasn’t totally surprising.
I was able to find quite a few sources that traced the history of graphic memoirs, but it’s been trickier finding sources that focus on criticism of the genre as a whole. There was a lot of scholarship about individual pieces, but not much that took a more general view. As a newer genre really only coming out of the 1980s, this wasn’t totally surprising.
Interestingly enough, a few of the sources I read actually discussed the trickiness of figuring out how to talk about and criticize the genre. In the first place, there’s definitely been a lot of tension as people have disagreed over whether or not graphic memoirs deserve to “count” as literature, as opposed to popular media. There was some questioning of what kinds of tropes could be identified to help categorize and discuss works within the genre, as well as discussion over whether or not graphic memoirs and comic books in general are exempt from general considerations about the legitimacy of racial portrayal and the like. In essence, do we treat graphic memoirs the same way we would “normal” literature, or do they operate on their own set of rules, for lack of a better word?
One of the most interesting things I learned about the genre concerned its roots in the underground comix movement of the 60s and 70s. Underground comix broke from the more capitalistic comic strips and books, which were mass-produced to generate profits and were generally targeted to youth. Underground comix, on the other hand, focused on artistic expression and the author’s voice. Coming out of the Vietnam-era counterculture movement, they generally critiqued society and politics in an ironic and satirical manner. This is the tradition of graphic novels that graphic memoirs come from, and so it wasn’t surprising when I found that most graphic memoirs deal with topics related to political and personal trauma. Gleaning through the sources I came across, I noticed that there were tons of memoirs that dealt with illness and cancer specifically, as well as general issues related to embodiment. Because comics have this history of being juvenile and humorous, writers have utilized the medium to tell very dark personal stories twinged with irony and humor.
What is the difference between graphic novels in general and graphic memoirs? Right now I'm reading a graphic novel by Shigeru Mizuki that depicts the history of Japan from 1926-1936. He combines both personal experience with historical account. He's really famous in Japan and has written lots of autobiographical wartime accounts so if this seems like it could be useful to you at all let me know and you can borrow it!
ReplyDeleteI think some of those critiques of graphic memoirs become tricky because of their autobiographical nature. I remember reading Phoebe Gloeckner's "Diary of a Teenage Girl" (the main character is really into the underground comix movement if I recall correctly), which depicts casual racism and statutory rape, and not finding much criticism of it because of its authenticity. I think you could also talk about the visual component of these memoirs and how they communicate more than the written text!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that some may not think graphic memories are considered real literature. My question to you is whether you think they should be counted as real literature based on the research you have done. Based on your answer to you think that will affect the sources that you choose? As a child when I read Calvin and Hobbes I always called them the "comics", I guess I never thought of it as literature.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say I believe graphic memoir to be deserving of its own set of rules, due to the fact that it very clearly is separated from other genres of prose, whereas something else like epistolary works are also different from the norm, but still adhere to many of the same rules. The main difference, of course, is the use of imagery in depiction of large parts of the information provided, and the significance to that is simply that images operate on a different cognitive level that words. So the significance then is how heavy the images are relied upon to convey the message. So if there was something I would look into more it would be exactly that, how much image influences the information conveyed in words, and what is left unsaid that would be conveyed differently in another word.
ReplyDeleteAddition to original post: Going back to look for secondary sources with Professor Burnham's advice on searches was definitely a big help! I found a lot more articles this time around that took some sort of middle ground between tracing the overall history of the graphic memoir and analyzing one particular piece. The biggest challenge for me was deciding which sources to focus on. Because the genre hasn't been around for that long, there hasn't been much time for the literary criticism to sift and organize itself. Thus, it was hard to know which sources would be the most useful. In the end, I tried to pick pieces that examined different critical aspects of the subgenre, such as issues of narrative authenticity, embodied experience, representation of time, and feminist concerns. Although time will tell which scholars will rise to the top in terms of academic regard, each article I read helped to illuminate some aspect of the subgenre. While it ended up being a lot of work, I found that I really enjoyed reading through all the articles and they all helped me to find primary sources as well.
ReplyDelete