Literary Studies Proseminar

Words, Images, and the Spaces In-Between:

Graphic Novels as Literature?
fall 2012
Monday, 5.006.30 p.m.
Department of American Studies
Attemsgasse 25, SR34D2 (top floor)

(1) About the Course

Graphic novels are a genuinely American art form and have (together with comics) drawn a
growing interest from the academic community since the 1980s. In the 1990s, the field finally
started to get credibility when Art Spiegelmans graphic narrative Maus was awarded a Pulitzer
Prize and Scott McClouds seminal study Understanding Comics was published. It was, however,
already in the second half of the 1970s that the term graphic novel emerged. Artists have
frequently critiqued the term for its insecure pretension (as Daniel Raeburn has it), among
other things. Others see it, in the words of Eddie Campbell, as an emerging new literature of our
times in which word, picture, and typography interact meaningfully and which is in tune with
the complexity of modern life. Be that as it may, the term has stuck to describe long and (more
or less) cohesive fictional narratives presented in comic-strip format. Whether the graphic novel is
considered the next evolutionary stage in the development of literature following the epic and
novel (cf. Kuipers 2012) or a medium of its own, with its own history, grammar, and
conventions, scholarly commentary, not the least due to the emergence of journals such as the
International Journal of Comic Art (since 1999), Studies in Comics (since 2010), and the Journal of
Graphic Novels and Comics (since 2010), has shown that graphic novels (and comics) are, indeed,
worthy of academic investigation.

(2) Course Materials
All secondary readings will be available online (see link on UGO or Teaching section of my
website). The graphic novels are available in cbz/cbr format, too. Those of you who dont have
any experience in reading comics on iPads, e-readers, or computers, just search for cbz, cbr, or
comics reader----- -youll find loads of them out there. Even though most materials will be available
digitally, you still need to acquire:

Paul Auster: City of Glass (1985); unless you already have it, please buy the most up-to-date
Faber & Faber edition of The New York Trilogy (ca. 7) or you might also buy the kindle
edition (which is 1.29 as of writing this syllabus)----- -while you can get City of Glass as a
standalone book, The New York Trilogy is generally cheaper
Note: You must have read the novel by October 22, so order it soon. Its a rather short
novel, since its part of a trilogy; 150 pages or so. Its a typically postmodernist piece, however,
which is why those of you who havent read postmodernist texts so far might have a rather
hard time, so dont underestimate it as a quick read.

If you dont feel like reading the graphic novels on an e-reader, I guess youll have to somehow
acquire all of them (which is probably cheaper than printing, but still pretty costly, especially in
the case of Southland Tales, which is out of print). Editions dont really matter with
comics/graphic novels, since the page layouts are always the same and many of them arent
paginated, so if you dont care about paper quality, grab the cheapest edition you can get

(3) Course Work & Grading

Grading
< 60% = Fail (nicht genugend)
60% = D (genugend)
70% = C (befriedigend)
80% = B (gut)
90 % = A (sehr gut)

Grading Criteria
30% paper or creating a comic
30% online responses
30% participation in class
10% writing prompts

What goes into this calculation is not the individual grades, but the individual percent of the
maximum points, for example, 90% on paper plus 80% on participation, and so on instead of an
A on the paper, a B on blogging, etc. Passing the course does not depend on fulfilling all of
the criteria. You may decide not to participate in class discussions, not to write online responses,
etc., but----- -of course----- -it means that youre willingly waiving your right to a better grade.

(a1) Paper (30%)
You are expected to write a paper or an essay (paper in the following) on a topic related to
comics/graphic novels----- -i.e., from topics such as race, class, or gender in a given comic to
adapting a given graphic novel to the big screen, turning it into a video game, etc. Your paper is
expected to be ca. 4,000 words (incl. references etc.), but quantity is no substitute for quality!
You may write your paper with a partner, in which case the paper should be ca. 5,000 words. If
you choose to co-author a paper, both of you will, of course, get the same points on the paper.
However, if youre co-authoring a paper, the entire paper should be on one level as far as
language, style, and quality of analysis are concerned. I dont want to see right away that person A
wrote chapters 1 and 2 and person B chapters 3 and 4 (worst-case scenario: youre even using
different fonts; you might not quite believe it----- -I certainly didnt----- -but these things do, in fact,
happen ).

I wont be suggesting paper topics----- -write about something youre (hopefully) interested in.
Paper topics should be fixed on Friday after the Christmas break at the latest. All topics are
subject to my approval. Also, at some point during the semester, Ill be posting a term paper
checklist on the website. I dont do that because I think its fun----- -those are guidelines that are
meant to be observed and also some pieces of advice as to how to improve your writing.

Youre more than welcome to email your papers (if you dont receive a confirmation of receipt
within 24 hours, your email was likely lost somewhere in the depths of cyberspace; in that case:
re-send). If you email your paper, youll also receive the correction digitally. Digital copies are to
be submitted as pdf, doc(x), or rtf. Even though this should be clear in our day and age, just to
make sure: Hand-written papers are not accepted! Generally, I wont be returning a marked
paper, but only general comments. However, if you want more thorough marking (especially in
terms of language), Im more than happy to comply with that wish, but please tell me so
(mention it in the mail or something). Please note that once youve submitted your paper, there is
no revising or anything. You can, however, send me drafts (February 8 at the latest) for me to
comment on or discuss in person.

Papers are graded according to a scheme that considers (a) language (15%), (b) organization
(15%), (c) the formulation of a thesis, research questions and the related analysis or a thorough,
theoretically well-founded descriptive analysis (40%), (d) preparation and/or originality (20%),
and e) the use of sources, correct citation (10%; for details, see info on website/UGO). For
citations, you may follow the English Departments style sheet, MLA, Harvard, or Chicago Style,
but use parenthetical citations, not foot- or endnotes (even though Chicago Style prefers the use
of endnotes in the Humanities, dont; Chicago also has an in-text citation style). Papers must cite
(and thus also quote or paraphrase!) at least 5 secondary sources (wikis, reviews, and student
guides dont count as sources; neither do student papers----- -diploma, M.A., and Ph.D. theses do,
of course, count). As far as secondary sources are concerned: Do yourself a favor and read the
assigned texts in an economic way----- -youll find several general (or generalizable) statements in
each assigned text, which can be used in pretty much any given paper.

The deadline for papers is February 15, 2013. Paper copies have to be handed in on that day
before noon in the secretarys office, digital copies may be emailed until February 15, 11.59 p.m.
CET (but if I dont have the paper in my virtual inbox on February 16 [since emails dont
necessarily arrive within seconds] and see that it was posted before midnight, it will be counted as
a late submission). You can hand in your paper until February 28, 2013, but for each week it is
handed in late, youll lose 10% on the paper (i.e., -10% for submission by February 22; -20%
February 28). In case youre planning to take the first Fachprfung next semester and it takes
place in the first week of March: Dont submit your paper a couple of minutes before midnight
of February 28 and ask me to grade your paper by the following Monday so you can register for
the exam----- -just dont.

Plagiarism is not accepted. No matter how you did in other aspects of grading, plagiarism in
your paper results in failing the class. If you are uncertain of how to document sources or how
to quote, please ask me.

Mini-Paper to Pass the Class
If you happen to have more than 50% prior to submitting a paper and all you want is pass the
class, you can submit a short essay on a comics-related topic by February 8. If youre above 55%,
the paper should be 1,000 words and cite 2 sources; if youre between 50.01 and 55.00, the paper
should be 1,500 words and cite 3 sources.

(a2) Creation of a Comic
Instead of writing an academic piece, you can also opt for creative work and show your skills as a
writer and/or illustrator. The comic should be ca. 15 pages if its a solo project and ca. 20 pages if
its a collaborative effort (one person being the writer, the other the illustrator). It can be made in
the old-fashioned way by using pencil and paper or in the form of a webcomic----- -your options are
practically endless. For deadlines, see (a1).

(b) Online Responses (30%)
All of my seminars are accompanied by public blogs----- -yes, out in the public sphere of the World
Wide Web, not on Moodle or Blackboard. As students have realized in the past, blogging serves a
host of purposes, from ensuring that you do your assigned readings to getting all of you involved
in discussions. In addition, the blog even provides a virtual space to tackle questions and issues
that arent covered in class.

You are required to blog ca. 300 words per week (again, this is not about quantity). I want to
stress that you are supposed to write these entries on a weekly basis; they are due on Mondays, 3
hours before class starts. Basically, you can write about anything that is somewhat connected to
the topic of comics----- -thoughts concerning the assigned texts (this is the preferred option), you
might reflect on issues that came up during class discussions, write about a comic youve read or a
comic adaptation youve seen in the past week, etc. The entries dont need to be formulated well,
but one should be able to understand what youre trying to say. Please do come up with
meaningful titles for your entries; make sure that the majority of entries are not titled my
thoughts on [enter title of comic assigned for respective week].

However, I must stress that the blog entries are meant to be responses, not summaries! What
did you like about the assigned text(s)? What did you not like? What elements triggered further
reflections? Connect the assigned graphic novel to a secondary reading, etc. If other students have
already brought up issues that you wanted to discuss, rather than writing a new entry, respond to
them, try to expand on their ideas. Of course, you can also disagree with the others, which is a
good thing; voice that disagreement. Also, since Im not lingophile, all sorts of artistic responses
are welcome if you think (that I think) they are equal to the workload of writing 300 words
(which is not much). You can also video-blog, if you want to, but thats not really what the
system used for the blog was made for, so if you want to video-blog, youll have to do it on a
YouTube channel or whatsoever and post links to your video blogs on the blog (or embed the
clips in your post[s]).

These blog entries are meant to stimulate discussions, which is why you are expected to read at
least some of your fellow students blog entries each week and respond to them. Since last
semesters students werent quite happy with how the blog entries were graded (neither was I, to
be honest), heres the attempt to come up with a better system:

You can collect up to 10 points per week, i.e., between right after class (Monday, 6.30 p.m.)
and the following week (Monday, 2.00 p.m.). If you write a practically perfect entry, that may be
enough. However, you wont know how good your entry was until I grade it, so, to ensure that
you get 10 points, you might want to write one or the other response to other students entries to
collect additional points. You can also collect all 10 points via comments----- -depending on length
and substance, even one might be sufficient. There are no late submissions or anything; if you
havent written anything in a specific week, youll get 0 points. However, there will be two weeks
(November 5---12 and January 7---14), in which you can collect up to 20 points by writing
comments----- -either to make up for missed entries or simply to increase your points total. There
are 15 classes this semester, minus the introductory and one canceled meeting makes 13, i.e., 130
points = 100%; if you happen to get more than 130 points, youll have more than 100%. As the
semester moves along, getting 10 points in a given week will become increasingly tough, for I
expect your analytical eye to improve in the course of the semester.

(c) Participation (30%)
Since this course is an undergrad seminar, and not a lecture, I believe that the input provided by
me should be minimal----- -hopefully, its you doing the majority of the talking. Since there wont
be any presentations, you really need to actively participate in class discussions in order to
earn a good grade.

As we all know, recording class participation is neither easy nor objective in any way, but Im not
freely handing out As to students whove never contributed to discussions, and Im also not
disregarding class participation at the end of the semester. Since I know that there are people who
simply dont want to voice their thoughts in class (for a variety of reasons), everyone will start out
with straight C, i.e., 75%, on participation (which means that you practically cant get no A if
you dont participate). Now, if you arent in class, you clearly cant participate. I really dont care
why you dont attend a specific meeting; if youre not in class, you cant participate, which is also
why theres no need to drop me any sort of sorry, but I cant come to class today notes. Missing
one session doesnt matter; missing twice gets you -10% and three times -20% on participation.
Missing more than three classes results in a Nicht gengend. Class starts at 5.00 p.m. sharp.
Being late (which means coming after Ive called the roll) or leaving early three times equals an
absence. (If youre suffering from some chronic illness that may be the reason for you missing
several classes during the semester, talk to me at the beginning of the semester. Also note that the
only excuse for not coming or coming late to class or leaving early I accept is scheduling conflicts
with exams.) You can also lose participation points if the class----- -due to lack of participation----- -
forces me to call names (which is something I dont want to do) in order to get answers and you
cant provide one (usually any kind of an answer is helpful in one way or another). On the other
end of the spectrum, pretty much any kind of active participation in class will be positively
rewarded.

Since the course is essentially about discussing texts, you must bring them to class (I dont really
care whether you bring them as printouts, on your laptops, on e-readers, etc.), and the readings
should be annotated----- -if you dont bring the annotated text(s) to class, I must assume that you
are not prepared for class.

I reserve the right to ask students to leave specific meetings if they havent done their readings or
chat tirelessly.

(d) Writing Prompts (10%)
There will be four writing prompts in the course of the semester. Writing prompt means that Ill
give you a short writing assignment in class about both the primary and secondary readings
scheduled for the day of the writing prompt. You arent supposed to write a long text, but 1-- -2
paragraphs that answer the question/assignment by referring to the assigned texts. The worst
result will be dropped (since there are reasons for being unprepared ... once). If youre acing all
four of them, your performance will find some reflection in your grade. There will be no repeat
dates for these writing prompts (youre allowed to miss one, anyway).

(4) Varia
(a) Problems
If you have any pressing needs, difficulties, or frustrations related to the course, I urge you to
contact me. I welcome suggestions as to how the course can be made more enjoyable.

(b) Reaching me
My office hour is on Wednesday, 12.00---1.00 p.m. Since Im merely adjuncting (i.e., hired to
teach), youll need to schedule an appointment if you cant make it to the office hour----- -just
contact me, Im pretty flexible. Though, to be honest, the preferred times for appointments on
campus are before and after my classes at the University of Graz (Mo 5.00---6.30 p.m.; Weds
10.00---11.30 a.m.; Weds 5.00-- -6.30 p.m.; Thur 10.00-- -11.30 a.m.). I generally respond to emails
(m.fuchs@uni-graz.at) very quickly----- -if you dont receive an answer within 24 hours on weekdays
and 48 hours on days off, you should assume that your email hasnt reached me. You can also
contact me via Skype @ michaelfuchsbiz. If you have any questions that might be of interest to
more students, please post them on the website. I wont be answering questions that can be
easily answered by reading the syllabus or taking a look at the class website. If you really
cant find the answer youre looking for, post the question(s) in the Q&A section of the blog----- -
hopefully one of your fellow students can provide (an) answer(s). Also, since Im teaching four
classes this semester, please do already clarify in the emails subject line what class youre taking
(something like Graphic Novels: Paper Topic).



Tentative Schedule
(subject to change----- -see website for up-to-date schedule)

October 1: Course Overview and a Brief Outline of American Comics History

October 8: Contextualizing Comics: Visual Culture
Nicholas Mirzoeff: What is Visual Culture? (1998)
Roland Barthes: The Rhetoric of the Image (1964)
from W.J.T. Mitchell: Iconology (1986) and Picture Theory (1994)

October 15: Reading Comics
A. David Lewis: The Shape of Comic Book Reading (2010)
Hillary Chute: The Changing Profession: Comics as Literature? Reading
Graphic Narrative (2006)
Stuart Medley: Discerning Pictures: How We Look At and Understand
Images in Comics (2010)
Neil Cohn: The Limits of Time and Transitions: Challenges to Theories of
Sequential Image Comprehension (2010)

Further Reading:
Scott McCloud: Understanding Comics (1993)

October 22: Obsessed with Language: Adapting Postmodernism to the Comics Format
Paul Auster: City of Glass (1985)
Paul Karasik & David Mazzucchelli: City of Glass: The Graphic Novel (2004)

Secondary Reading:
David Coughlan: Postmodernism (2005)

Further Readings:
Paul Aktinson: The Graphic Novel as Metafiction (2010)
Matthew Bolton: Fidelity and Period Aesthetics in Comics Adaptation
(2011)
David Coughlan: Paul Austers City of Glass: The Graphic Novel (2006)
Martha Kuhlmann: The Poetics of the Page: City of Glass, the graphic novel
(2004)

October 29: Narrating the U.S.
Alex Ross & Steve Darnell: Uncle Sam (1997)

Secondary Readings:
Louis J. Kern: Embodying the Nation: The Iconicity of Uncle Sam and the
Construction of a Conflicted National Identity (forthcoming)
Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock: The Spectral Turn (2004)

Further Readings:
Depending on your knowledge of U.S. history, you might want to look at an
outline of U.S. history to make sense of whats going on in Uncle Sam.

November 5: Trauma and the Jewish Experience during WWII, Part I
Evan Carton: The Holocaust, French Poststructuralism, the American
Literary Academy, and Jewish Identity Poetics (2004)
from Robert Eaglestone: The Holocaust and the Postmodern (2008)
November 12: Trauma and the Jewish Experience during WWII, Part II
Art Spiegelman: Maus (1980-- -1991)

Further Readings:
Joshua Brown: Of Mice and Memory (1988)
Emily Miller Budick: Forced Confessions: The Case of Art Spiegelmans
Maus (2001)
Joshua L. Charlson: Framing the Past: Postmodernism and the Making of
Reflective Memory in Art Spiegelmans Maus (2001)
Hillary Chute: History and Graphic Representation in Maus (2006)
Thomas Doherty: Art Spiegelmans Maus: Graphic Art and the Holocaust
(1996)
Deborah R. Geis (ed.): Considering Maus: Approaches to Art Spiegelmans
Survivors Tale of the Holocaust (2003)
Richard Glejzer: Maus and the Epistemology of Witness (2003)
Joan Gordon: Surviving the Survivor: Art Spiegelmans Maus (1993)
Keith Harrison: Telling the Untellable: Spiegelmans Maus (1999)
Barry Laga: Maus, Holocaust, and History: Redrawing the Frame (2001)
Anja Lemke: Bildersprache --- Sprachbilder: Darstellungsformen der
Erinnerung in Art Spiegelmans Maus (2005)
Tomasz Lysak: An Autobiography of an Autobiography: Art Spiegelmans
Maus (2003)
Sheng-Mei Ma: Mourning with the (as a) Jew: Metaphor, Ethnicity, and the
Holocaust in Art Spiegelmans Maus (1997)
Richard Martin: Art Spiegelmans Maus: Or, the Way It Really Happened
(1994)
Alan Rosen: The Language of Survival: English as Metaphor in Spiegelmans
Maus (1995)
Michael Rothberg: We Were Talking Jewish: Art Spiegelmans Maus as
Holocaust Production (1994)
Michael E. Staub: The Shoah Goes On and On: Remembrance and
Representation in Art Spiegelmans Maus (1995)
Stephen Tabachnick: Of Maus and Memory: The Structure of Art
Spiegelmans Graphic Novel of the Holocaust (1993)
James E. Young: The Holocaust as Vicarious Past: Art Spiegelmans Maus and
the Afterimages of History (2003)

November 19: canceled

November 26: Reconsidering the Superhero, Part I
from Charles Wertham: Seduction of the Innocent (1954)
from Peter Coogan: Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre (2006)
from Richard Reynolds: Super Heroes: A Modern Mythology (1992)
Roland Barthes: Myth Today (1956)

December 3: Reconsidering the Superhero, Part II
Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons: Watchmen (1986-- -1987)

Further Readings:
David Barnes: Time in the Gutter: Temporal Structures in Watchmen (2009)
Mark Bernard & James Bucky Carter: Alan Moore and the Graphic Novel:
Confronting the Fourth Dimension (2004)
Brandy Ball Blake: Watchmen: The Graphic Novel as Trauma Fiction (2010)
Brent Fishbaugh: Moore and Gibbons Watchmen: Exact Personifications of
Science (1998)
Jamie A. Hughes: Who Watches the Watchmen? Ideology and Real World
Superheroes (2006)
Karl Maratin: The Love of Nationalism, Internationalism and Sacred Space in
Watchmen (2012)
Michael J. Prince: Alan Moores America: The Liberal Individual and
American Identities in Watchmen (2011)
Ho-Rim Song: Texts Resistance to Being Interpreted: Unconventional
Relationships between Text and Reader in Watchmen (2010)
Sarah J. Van Ness: Watchmen as Literature: A Critical Study of the Graphic
Novel (2010)

December 10: Reconstructing the Ripper Myth, Part I
Jean Baudrillard: History: A Retro Scenario (1976)
from Eric L. Berlatsky: The Real, the True, and the Told: Postmodern Historical
Narrative and the Ethics of Representation (2011)

December 17: Reconstructing the Ripper Myth, Part II
Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell: From Hell (1991---1996)

Further Readings:
Barish Ali: The Violence of Criticism: The Mutilation and Exhibition of
History in From Hell (2005)
Mark Bernard & James Bucky Carter: Alan Moore and the Graphic Novel:
Confronting the Fourth Dimension (2004)
Zoe Brigley-Thompson: Theorizing Sexual Domination in From Hell and Lost
Girls: Jack the Ripper versus Wonderlands of Desire (2012)
Lisa Coppin: Looking Inside Out: The Vision as Particular Gaze in From
Hell (2003)
Mervi Miettinen: Do You Understand How I Have Loved You? Terrible
Loves and Divine Visions in From Hell (2012)
Monika Pietrzak-Franger: Envisioning the Rippers Visions: Adapting Myth
in Alan Moore and Eddie Campbells From Hell (2009)

January 7: Investigating the Contemporary American Family, Part I
from Judith Butler: Bodies That Matter (1993)
from Lee Edelman: No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive (2004)

Basic Reading for those whove not heard of Queer Theory before:
from Annamarie Jagose: Queer Theory: An Introduction (1996)

January 14: Investigating the Contemporary American Family, Part II
Alison Bechdel: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2006)

Further Readings:
Ann Cvetkovich: Drawing the Archive in Alison Bechdels Fun Home (2008)
Annette Fantasia: The Paterian Bildungsroman Reenvisioned: Brain-
Building in Alison Bechdels Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2011)
Ariela Freedman: Drawing on Modernism in Alison Bechdels Fun Home
(2009)
Jennifer Lemberg: Closing the Gap in Alison Bechdels Fun Home (2008)
Robin Lydenberg: Under Construction: Alison Bechdels Fun Home: A Family
Tragicomic (2012)
Adrielle Mitchell: Spectral Memory, Sexuality and Inversion: An Arthrological
Study of Alison Bechdels Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2009)
Monica B. Pearl: Graphic Language: Redrawing the Family (Romance) in
Alison Bechdels Fun Home (2008)
Sarah Catherine Richardson: Old Father, Old Artificer: Queering Suspicing
in Alison Bechdels Fun Home (2012)
Valerie Rohy: In the Queer Archive: Fun Home (2010)
Christian W. Schneider: Young Daughter, Old Artificer: Constructing the
Gothic Fun Home (2010)
Miriam Brown Spiers: Daddys Little Girl: Multigenerational Queer
Relationships in Bechdels Fun Home (2010)
Robyn Warhol: The Space Between: A Narrative Approach to Alison
Bechdels Fun Home (2011)
Julia Watson: Autographic Disclosures and Genealogies of Desire in Alison
Bechdels Fun Home (2011)
Julia Watson: The Pleasures of Reading in Alison Bechdels Fun Home
(2012)

January 21: Graphic Novels and Transmedia Narratives, Part I
from Henry Jenkins: Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide
(2006)
Henry Jenkins: The Revenge of the Origami Unicorn: Seven Principles of
Transmedia Storytelling (2009)
Carlos Scolari: Transmedia Storytelling: Implicit Consumers, Narrative
Worlds, and Branding in Contemporary Media Production (2009)

January 28: Graphic Novels and Transmedia Narratives, Part II
Richard Kelly: Southland Tales (2006)
Richard Kelly & Brett Weldele: Southland Tales (2006---2007)