CFP: The Graphic 19th Century (MLA 2014)

March 13, 2013 Leave a comment

Töpffer's Obadiah Oldbuck (New York, c. 1842), courtesy of the Dartmouth Digital Library Program

Call for Papers for a panel at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention, 9-12 Jan. 2014, in Chicago. Sponsored by the MLA Division on Nineteenth-Century American Literature.

The MLA Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives is pleased to announce this panel for MLA 2014 organized by its sister entity, the Division on the Nineteenth-Century American Literature.

The explosion of print media in the 19th century has become a critical commonplace; the impact of photographic images on the period been studied extensively. We invite submissions that take up the combination of word and image, as in The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck (1842), the first graphic novel published in the United States, and graphic work popularized in periodicals from Harper’s Weekly to Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. Abstracts by Mar. 15 to Augusta Rohrbach (augustrohrbach [at] gmail [dot] com) and Hillary Chute (chute [at] uchicago [dot] edu).

Filed under Allied Organizations, Calls for Papers, Other Comics Events @ MLA

CFP: Fine Art and Comics (MLA 2014)

February 20, 2013 Leave a comment

Image by Henry Darger, from www.saraayers.com/darger.htm

Call for Papers for a proposed panel at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention, 9-12 Jan. 2014, in Chicago. Sponsored by the MLA Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives.

The comics medium and the numerous media included under the rubric of “fine art” (such as painting, printmaking, drawing, sculpture, experimental film or video, and digital art) have a long history of both connection and divergence. In our current moment, comics are entering the space of the museum. This past year brought us significant shows by Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman in Paris; in summer 2013 Daniel Clowes will have a retrospective at the MCA in Chicago. How have comics communities and fine arts communities been separated, and are these separations productive? Are they now becoming less distinct? Where is the overlap? Where do we trace the mutual influence of comics and fine arts in the twentieth century (particularly, say, during high modernism, and also during the period of the underground comix movement of the 1960s-70s), and even earlier? What work doesn’t quite fit into either of these categories?

We invite papers on the historical relationship, and interconnection, between comics and the art world. We are particularly interested in papers on figures who have been received in both spheres, such as Henry Darger and Raymond Pettibon.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • Chicago connections: The Hairy Who (Karl Wirsum, Jim Nutt, et al.); Henry Darger (“outsider” artist, “folk” artist,” cartoonist?); Chris Ware (who appeared in the Whitney Biennial in 2002, and subsequently in many other gallery and museum spaces); work collected by the Art Institute of Chicago, and its influence on contemporary cartooning.
  • Gary Panter, known as much for his paintings as for his comics: What does it mean to occupy both spaces? Does Panter’s work bridge the divide, and, if so, how?
  • Raymond Pettibon: Do we think of the work of this art world star as cartooning? How might we characterize Pettibon’s mark, line, style, arrangement of word and image?
  • Recent comics exhibitions, such as Masters of American Comics: How do comics fare on the wall? How do comics function in the space of the museum or gallery?
  • Internationally celebrated artists such as William Kentridge whose works are motivated by drawing: How might critical paradigms introduced by comics help make sense of such work?
  • Comics and visual modernism: proto-modernist works by Winsor McCay and others; what aesthetics are shared, and why is this overlap/connection significant?
  • Recent books such as Abstract Comics (Andrei Molotiu) and Comics Versus Art (Bart Beaty): How do these critical works reflect on the comics/fine art connection?

Send 200 to 300-word abstracts in .doc or .pdf to Hillary L. Chute (chute [at] uchicago [dot] edu) by 8 March 2012. Submitters will receive notification of results by April 1.

PLEASE NOTE: This CFP is for a proposed, not guaranteed, session at MLA 2014, which means that the session is contingent on approval by the MLA Program Committee. Though individual submitters will hear from the Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives by April 1, the MLA Program Committee will not consider the entire session proposal until after that date. All prospective presenters must be current MLA members by no later than 7 April 2013.

Please feel free to leave questions or comments on this site!

Screamin' Jay Hawkins, as envisioned by Karl Wirsum (1968)  Raymond Pettibon's cover to Sonic Youth's album Goo (1990)

Filed under 2014, Calls for Papers

CFP: Collaboration in Comics (MLA 2014)

February 9, 2013 1 Comment

Saga of the Swamp Thing 34 (1985), by Moore, Bissette, Totleben, Wood, & Costanza

Call for Papers for a panel at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention, 9-12 Jan. 2014, in Chicago. Sponsored by the MLA Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives.

Though comics is a dialogic form, current academic work on comics has remarkably little to say about the possibility of genuinely dialogical creation, that is, collaboration. The bulk of recent scholarly and curatorial work on comics favors the concept of cartooning as a singular personal handwriting, that is, an autographic trace, ignoring the historical importance and artistic potential of multi-authored comics. The proposed panel seeks to illuminate this blind spot in comics study by inviting critical perspectives on collaboration. We seek proposals on all topics relevant to this issue, including but not necessarily limited to:

  • The legal, ethical, economic, and artistic implications of creative teaming
  • Instances of tense, difficult, or complicated collaboration
  • Studio projects, e.g., Eisner et al., The Spirit; Hergé et al., Tintin
  • Notable collaborative teams in comics, e.g., Goscinny and Uderzo, Jodorowsky and Moebius, Koike and Kojima, Kurtzman et al., Moore et al., Pekar et al., Gaiman and McKean, Simon and Kirby, Stanley and Tripp, many more
  • Collaborations that go beyond the usual division of scenarist and artist, e.g., Dupuy-Berberian, Karasik and Mazzucchelli (City of Glass), Trondheim/Sfar et al.
  • Artists’ collectives, e.g., Actus Tragicus, CLAMP, Fast Fiction, Stripcore, Wimmen’s Comix
  • Collaborative autobiography in comics, e.g., Pekar et al., American Splendor; Brabner, Pekar, and Stack, Our Cancer Year; Kominsky-Crumb and Crumb; Sowa and Savoia, Marzi; Wojnarowicz, Romberger, and Van Cook, Seven Miles a Second
  • Specific collaborative processes and their artistic ramifications, e.g., constraint-based experiments, exquisite corpse games, and jams; scripting by thumbnail v. full script; the Marvel method
  • Metacritical consideration of how criticism and theory value, or devalue, collaborative work
  • Creators who shift roles (scenarist, artist, etc.) between projects, e.g., David B., Frank Miller, Sfar, Shanower, Trondheim
  • Editors as collaborators, e.g., Goscinny, Menu, Spiegelman/Mouly, many examples in manga
  • Collaborations with family or partners, e.g., the Crumb family, Los Bros Hernandez, Mary Talbot and Bryan Talbot in Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes

Send 200 to 300-word abstracts in .doc or .pdf to Charles Hatfield (charles [dot] hatfield [at] gmail [dot] com) by 8 March 2013. Submitters will receive notification of results by April 1.

PLEASE NOTE: All prospective presenters must be current members of the MLA by no later than 7 April 2013.

To see further discussion and a fuller rationale for this panel, click here: Read more of this post

Filed under 2014, Calls for Papers

CFP: Transnational Comics (MLA 2014)

February 9, 2013 Leave a comment

Transnational Comics (examples from the Czech Republic, India, and Argentina)

Call for Papers for a proposed panel at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention, 9-12 Jan. 2014, in Chicago. Jointly sponsored by the MLA Division on Literature and Other Arts and the MLA Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives.

Spurred by the development of the Internet and wordless communication, transnationalism has come to mean a new way of thinking about the relationships and interconnectivity among cultures, languages, arts, and peoples on the international stage. Comics and graphic narratives have long been the visual and textual testament to this global interaction. From the influence of 19th and early 20th century European comic art on American comics (and vice versa), the cultural links between Japanese manga and comics worldwide, and the rise of graphic novels in non-western countries to current issues of production, translation, and cultural reception, comics and graphic narratives lend themselves to a transnational lens. Indeed, in these complex and vulnerable times, as globalization refigures what we mean by “worldwide” and cultural forms cross-pollinate across national boundary lines, the prospect of a truly transnational comics studies seems more important than ever.

This panel invites papers that explore the cultural exchange that comics and graphic narratives have had and continue to offer. A few questions to consider:

  • How do American comics differ from manga? From bande dessinée?
  • How have specific comic artists influenced each other in transnational and intercultural contexts? Papers might consider, for example, how a distinctive style (such as Hergé’s ligne claire) has been adopted by artists in other countries, or how comics anthologies (such as RAW or Stripburger) and festivals (such as the FIBD in Angoulême) facilitate transnational connections.
  • How have superhero characters been adapted around the world? What are the implications of these transnational adaptations?
  • What are the cultural implications when comics are translated into other languages and for other audiences, for example into English for American markets? What aspects of the original context are preserved or lost in this translation?
  • How might emerging theories of transnationalism, or analyses of globalization, shed light on comics and comics culture?

Send 200 to 300-word abstracts in .doc or .pdf to Nhora Serrano (nhora [dot] serrano [at] csulb [dot] edu) and Anke Finger (anke [dot] finger [at] uconn [dot] edu) by 8 March 2012. Submitters will receive notification of results by April 1.

PLEASE NOTE: This CFP is for a proposed, not a guaranteed, session at MLA 2014, meaning it is contingent on approval by the MLA Program Committee (which will make its decisions after April 1). All prospective presenters must be current MLA members by no later than 7 April 2012.

Please feel free to leave comments on this site, or to email Charles Hatfield, charles [dot] hatfield [at] gmail [dot] com, if you have questions!

Transnational Comics (examples from Canada, Japan, and Côte d'Ivoire/France)

Filed under 2014, Calls for Papers

Welcome, Nhora Serrano!

February 8, 2013 Leave a comment

Welcome to our newest Executive Committee member, Nhora Lucía Serrano. Nhora was elected to the Committee this fall, and her election confirmed by the MLA in December, just in time for her to join us in Boston. Proud to welcome you aboard, Nhora!

Nhora is an Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at California State University, Long Beach, and co-editor (with Janelle A. Schwartz) of Curious Collectors, Collected Curiosities: An Interdisciplinary Study (2011). Her full bio can be found here.

Nhora’s term on the Executive Committee will be from MLA conference year 2014 (that is, 2013-2014) to MLA 2018. We look forward to working with her over the years ahead!

Filed under News

Other Comics Studies Events @ MLA 2013 (updated)

December 26, 2012 6 Comments

Program for the 128th MLA Annual Convention, Boston, 3-6 January 2013

Updated, 26 Dec. 2012: Besides the three panels and the cash bar (!) sponsored by our Discussion Group (i.e. the Comics and Graphic Narratives Group), MLA 2013 in Boston will host several other sessions dedicated or strongly related to comics studies, as well as many individual papers that, as far as we can tell from the program, relate to the field. Though the number of comics-themed events this time around does not quite match the all-time high set by last year, interest in comics at the MLA obviously remains strong—a hopeful sign for the future!

Sadly, the MLA’s searchable online program does not include the search term comics or graphic narratives in its drop-down menus, and, though it is possible to type those words (or any words) into the search field, not every panel or paper related to comics studies is necessarily labeled as such. So, skimming through the entire program remains the surest way to find all the comics-themed events at the convention. We’ve done that—and, in hopes of spreading the word about comics scholarship at MLA, we offer the following two lists.

The first list, Other Comics Studies Panels, consists of entire sessions either clearly devoted to or declaring a substantial interest in graphic narrative. By substantial interest we mean that the session either includes more than one paper definitely focused on comics and/or spotlights “comics” or “graphic narrative” in its title. Some of these panels are special (i.e. ad hoc and independent) sessions, while others are sponsored by standing MLA Divisions or allied organizations.

The second list, Individual Papers on Comics, consists of single papers that appear to focus on comics, cartooning, or visual narrative but within sessions organized around other topics. These we’ve listed by session and paper title, without listing all the other paper topics involved in these sessions.

We hope we haven’t missed any comics studies sessions or papers. If you think we have (or if we’ve misrepresented your work), please drop us a comment here so that we can correct our mistake. Thanks! We hope these lists prove helpful as you plan out your MLA experience.
…

Other Comics Studies Panels:

90. Paintings and Photographs Remediated in Film, Graphic Narrative, and Newspaper

Thursday, 3 January, 3:30–4:45 p.m., Riverway, Sheraton Boston

Program arranged by the International Society for the Study of Narrative and the American Comparative Literature Association

Presiding: Emma Kafalenos, Washington Univ. in St. Louis; Lois Parkinson Zamora, Univ. of Houston

  1. “The Remediation of Painting within Cinematic Narrative Discourse,” David Henry Richter, Queens Coll., City Univ. of New York
  2. “Remediated Photographs and Reconstructed Memories: Personal and Familial Pasts in Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic,” Genie Giaimo, Northeastern Univ.
  3. “Front-Page Ekphrasis,” Lisa Zunshine, Univ. of Kentucky

623. Gender(ed) Performativities in Latin American and Latina/o Graphic Novels

Saturday, 5 January, 5:15–6:30 p.m., Room 205, Hynes Convention Center

Program arranged by the Division on Twentieth-Century Latin American Literature

Presiding: Hilda Chacón, Nazareth Coll. of Rochester

  1. “Unbecoming Cuban American: Representations of Female Subjectivity in Bad Habits: A Love Story, by Cristy Road,” Irune del Rio Gabiola, Butler Univ.
  2. “Ashes and Masks: Gender according to Gilbert Hernandez,” Christopher Pizzino, Univ. of Georgia
  3. “Trans-nepantlista Visual Geographies and the Inked Latina Body: Ana Mendieta’s Graphic Life Writing,” Emma Ruth García, Colby Coll.; Magdalena M. Maiz-Peña, Davidson Coll.

676. Re–Understanding Comics

Sunday, 6 January, 8:30–9:45 a.m., Gardner, Sheraton Boston

A special session

Presiding: Margaret Galvan, Graduate Center, City Univ. of New York

  1. “The Citational Uses and Abuses of Understanding Comics and the Scholarly Futures They Forecast,” Michael Chaney, Dartmouth Coll.
  2. “Living Lines: Comics as a Phenomenological Encounter,” David Bahr, Borough of Manhattan Community Coll., City Univ. of New York
  3. “Drawing on Theory,” Samantha Close, Univ. of Southern California

Responding: Charles Hatfield, California State Univ., Northridge

709. Picturing Photography in Graphic Memoirs

Sunday, 6 January, 10:15–11:30 a.m., Berkeley, Sheraton Boston

A special session

Presiding: Courtney Baker, Connecticut Coll.

  1. “The Queer Contest between Modern and Postmodern Modes of Vision in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home,” Robin Bernstein, Harvard Univ.
  2. “Drawn Photographs and the Performance of (Post)Memory in Carol Tyler’s You’ll Never Know,” Mihaela Precup, Univ. of Bucharest
  3. “‘I Saw It’: The Photographic Witness of Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen,” Laura Wexler, Yale Univ.

790. Comics, Moving Images, and Intermedial Criticism

Sunday, 6 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., Gardner, Sheraton Boston

Program arranged by the Division on Film

Presiding: Nicholas Sammond, Univ. of Toronto; Paul D. Young, Vanderbilt Univ.

  1. “Autobiographical Constructions: Authorial Absence and Presence in Julie Doucet and Michel Gondry’s My New New York Diary,” Frederik Køhlert, Univ. of Montreal
  2. “Avatar: The Last Airbender and Shifting Intermedial Spaces,” Sandra K. Stanley, California State Univ., Northridge
  3. “Spiegelman’s Home Movie: Art at Auschwitz,” Brad Prager, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia

In addition to these panels on comics studies, we’d like to highlight a session on another, possibly related topic chaired by our Comics and Graphic Narratives colleague Hillary Chute:

361. Video Games

Sunday, 6 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., Gardner, Sheraton Boston

Program arranged by the Division on Popular Culture

Presiding: Hillary L. Chute, Univ. of Chicago

  1. “Playful Aesthetics,” Mary Flanagan, Dartmouth Coll.
  2. “Losing the Game: Gamification and the Procedural Aesthetics of Systemic Failure,” Patrick Jagoda, Univ. of Chicago
  3. “Acoustemologies of the Closet: The Wizard, the Troll, and the Fortress,” William Cheng, Harvard Univ.

…

Individual Papers on Comics:

59. Francophonies numérisées / Digital Francophonies

Thursday, 3 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., Room 301, Hynes Convention Center

3. “Bandes dessinées téléchargeables: Un nouveau moyen de mesurer la diffusion de la langue française au 21ème siècle,” Henri-Simon Blanc-Hoang, Defense Lang. Inst.

72. Representing Genocide and Civil Conflict in Nonfiction Narrative

Thursday, 3 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., The Fens, Sheraton Boston

4. “Graphic Conflict: War and Genocide in Sequential Art,” Susan Jacobowitz, Queensborough Community Coll., City Univ. of New York

154. Teaching Arab Novels in English

Thursday, 3 January, 7:00–8:15 p.m., Room 307, Hynes Convention Center

2. “Intersections of Word and Image: The Lebanese Civil War in Graphic Form,” Carol N. Fadda-Conrey, Syracuse Univ.

178. Larger Than Life: Southern Heroes

Thursday, 3 January, 7:00–8:15 p.m., Beacon F, Sheraton Boston

2. “From the Old South to the New Frontier: Civil Rights, Black Masculinity, and Regional Superheroes in The American Way,” Brannon Costello, Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge

220. Image, Voice, Text: Canadian Literature

Friday, 4 January, 8:30–9:45 a.m., Beacon D, Sheraton Boston

3. “Aboriginal New Media: Alternative Forms of Storytelling,” Sarah Henzi, Univ. of Montreal

Presenter Sarah Henzi, in her comment posted here on Dec. 21st, notes, “I will be discussing the Graphic Novel in the context of Aboriginal/Native Literature.” Thank you, Sarah!

268. Disability Discourses: Bodily Selves and the Embodiment of Deviance

Friday, 4 January, 12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Hampton, Sheraton Boston

3. “Drawing Disability in Japanese Manga: Visual Politics, Cultural Attitudes, and Wheelchair Basketball in Inoue Takahiko’s Real,” Andrea Wood, Winona State Univ.

444. The Kafka Factor in Post-Holocaust Film and Literature

Saturday, 5 January, 8:30–9:45 a.m., Room 313, Hynes Convention Center

This roundtable on “the influence of Kafka’s work on post-1945 literature, graphic art, and film” promises to include discussion of “graphic art by Bechdel, Satrapi, Shaun Tan, and Yang.” The website for the session’s sponsoring organization, the Kafka Society, clarifies, stating that participant Susan Jacobowitz of Queensborough Community College, CUNY (who is also presenting a paper on comics in panel 72, above) will speak on

new aspects of the Kafka factor in five award-winning graphic works that engage with Kafka’s works and transcend disciplinary boundaries. Two of them are films. They explore themes such as Kafka’s criticism of family and society, alienation, persecution, and the grotesque struggle with bureaucracy. Shaun Tan’s “The Arrival” (2006) features frightening and wondrous visuals without text. A. Bechdel’s “Fun Home. A Family Tragicomic” (2006) revolves around a dysfunctional family; G. L. Yang’s “American Born Chinese” (2006) thematizes fitting in and dual identity; M. Satrapi’s “Persepolis” (film 2007) illustrates an exiled Iranian girl’s experiences in Vienna and Paris; A. Folman’s “Waltz with Bashir” (film 2008 and book 2009), explores personal experiences of the Holocaust generation and the filmmaker’s involvement in the Palestinian conflict.

680. Imagining Paradise: Nature, Ecology, and Culture in Kashmiri Literature

Sunday, 6 January, 8:30–9:45 a.m., Room 209, Hynes Convention Center

3. “Kashmir Pending: Kashmiri Militancy, Adolescence, and a Graphic Novel,” Patrick Colm Hogan, Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs

747. Oscar Wilde in Print and Visual Culture

Sunday, 6 January, 12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Jefferson, Sheraton Boston

1. “Late Victorian Publicity: Oscar Wilde from The Artist to Punch,” Loretta A. Clayton, Macon State Coll.

770. New Perspectives on Emotion and Narrative across Media

Sunday, 6 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., Beacon D, Sheraton Boston

3. “Empathy and Shared Feeling in Visual Narratives,” Jo Kremer, Yale Univ.

Filed under 2013, Other Comics Events @ MLA

MLA 2013—A Cash Bar, Our First Social Event!

December 15, 2012 Leave a comment

Rodolphe Töpffer shows us how to do it!

Session 657. Cash Bar Arranged by the Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives

Saturday, 5 January, 7:00–8:15 p.m.

Independence West, Sheraton Boston

…

Please join us for this cash bar and informal get-together!

We are eager to meet with everyone at MLA who is interested in comics studies. Members of our Executive Committee will be on hand to chat about our future plans, ideas for programming and community-building, and the further growth of comics studies both at the MLA and across academia. We invite your input, and hope to connect with you!

For an overview of all MLA 2013 sessions organized by the Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives, see here.

Filed under 2013, Past Sessions, Social Events

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