PS/Ü Reading Comics: The Evolution of the American 'Graphic Novel'

Providing a temporary escape from the Great Depression, comic books were first introduced to the American literary market as an independent art form in the 1930s. Superheroes from the universes of Detective Comics and Timely Comics/Marvel were soon gaining a major foothold within American popular culture. Yet after World War II had ended and Captain America and others had successfully defended American core values within and outside the US, the super hero seemed to slowly lose its appeal to mass audiences. Over the next decades, the genre needed to frequently prove itself and lastly succeeded by making its protagonists more complex and fit for film and television. At the same time, comics illustrators were increasingly experimenting within other genres, often including biographical accounts into their graphic work. In 1978 the publication of Will Eisner’s A Contract With God popularized the term ‘graphic novel’, a category that includes a wide range of genres and that by now has become the fastest-growing of all publishing categories in the United States.   

In this class we want to study and discuss the different ways in which the comics medium has been popularized since 1978. The course will focus on the development of the modern comic book and critically trace the emergence of the ‘graphic novel’ as an important voice within contemporary literature. We will approach this subject by alternating our attention between theoretical texts, excerpts from both classic and modern comic books and a selection of ‘graphic novels’. In doing so, the course offers the opportunity to practice and advance the skills acquired in the introductory course to literary studies. Course discussions will be based, among others, on the works of Will Eisner, Art Spiegelman, Alison Bechdel, David Small and cover a range of different subject matters, including accounts of Jewish (American) life during and after World War II, a tragic chronicle of family life in rural Pennsylvania, and a memoir on illness and disability.