Publikation
Stichtag: 15. August 2014
In a country such as Germany, where the distinction between “high” (literature, art, music, philosophy) and “low” culture (pop culture, film, comics) is still heavily emphasized, the concept of exploring Germany’s cultural, social and literary contours through graphic texts could seem especially problematic.
Given this traditional critical divide, the recent proliferation of perhaps traditionally low culture graphic novels and comic strips that treat conventionally high culture themes such as literature, fine art, music and politics provides a curious platform for analyzing aspects of German culture. In September 2013 as part of the Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin, comic artists, graphic novelists and their publishers formally acknowledged the ideological divide between considerations of low and high culture in “The Comic-Manifesto,” in which they “demand that the comic be afforded the same respect as literature and the visual arts.”
Essentially answering that call, this volume aims to contribute to the as yet small but growing scholarly fields of graphic novel pedagogy and analysis.
Topics of study may include but are not limited to:
- Teaching culture with graphic novels
- Teaching language with graphic novels
- Teaching history with graphic novels
- Methods of reading and analyzing graphic texts
- Defining the genre
- Graphic novel adaptations of classic literature and art
- Graphic novels and social comment
- Graphic novels as documentary
- Graphic novels as innovative storytelling
- Graphic novels as activism
- The state of current criticism (Germany and/or US)
- Past, present and future of graphic novel scholarship
Please send abstracts of 250-350 words to Lynn M. Kutch at kutch [at] kutztown.edu by August 15, 2014.