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dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11401/77203
dc.description.sponsorshipThis work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.en_US
dc.formatMonograph
dc.format.mediumElectronic Resourceen_US
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherThe Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
dc.typeDissertation
dcterms.abstractGraphic memoirs embrace the vibrancy and rich social and artistic history of comics, and the intimacy and imagination of autobiographies. Spanning from Justin Green’s 1972 Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary to Riad Sattouf’s 2014 The Arab of the Future, autobiographical comics capture the fragmented, subjective, and visual nature of memory. Reacting against the Comics Code, underground comics introduced the concept of portraying oneself in comics, a practice that achieved mainstream validation in 1992 when Art Spiegelman won the Pulitzer Prize for Maus. Drawing from classic comic strips like Richard Outcault’s The Yellow Kid and comic books like the salacious EC Comics, cartoonists integrate and reimagine comics techniques, evoking nostalgia but also disrupting expectations. The potential for image and text to be both collaborative and conflicting is conducive to narratives of trauma, illness, and isolation because there is an expanded opportunity for representation. Marianne Hirsch and Gillian Whitlock both argue that there is an ethical imperative for verbal-visual storytelling, especially in light of contemporary censorship, war, and family trauma. My dissertation explores the ways in which graphic memoirs have been utilized to tell significant and overlooked stories, and ways in which the reader is responsible for engaging with the cartoonist and protagonist through the graphic memoir. Specifically, I examine the ways in which the self-portrait, utilization of panels and gutters, depiction of silence, and inclusion of photographs communicate the personal narrative, and consider how these elements have evolved over the history of Western comics. Stories of personal trauma depicted through comics allow for a particular subjectivity and engagement, inspired by a contemporary medium that promises to challenge the limits of storytelling and autobiography.
dcterms.abstractGraphic memoirs embrace the vibrancy and rich social and artistic history of comics, and the intimacy and imagination of autobiographies. Spanning from Justin Green’s 1972 Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary to Riad Sattouf’s 2014 The Arab of the Future, autobiographical comics capture the fragmented, subjective, and visual nature of memory. Reacting against the Comics Code, underground comics introduced the concept of portraying oneself in comics, a practice that achieved mainstream validation in 1992 when Art Spiegelman won the Pulitzer Prize for Maus. Drawing from classic comic strips like Richard Outcault’s The Yellow Kid and comic books like the salacious EC Comics, cartoonists integrate and reimagine comics techniques, evoking nostalgia but also disrupting expectations. The potential for image and text to be both collaborative and conflicting is conducive to narratives of trauma, illness, and isolation because there is an expanded opportunity for representation. Marianne Hirsch and Gillian Whitlock both argue that there is an ethical imperative for verbal-visual storytelling, especially in light of contemporary censorship, war, and family trauma. My dissertation explores the ways in which graphic memoirs have been utilized to tell significant and overlooked stories, and ways in which the reader is responsible for engaging with the cartoonist and protagonist through the graphic memoir. Specifically, I examine the ways in which the self-portrait, utilization of panels and gutters, depiction of silence, and inclusion of photographs communicate the personal narrative, and consider how these elements have evolved over the history of Western comics. Stories of personal trauma depicted through comics allow for a particular subjectivity and engagement, inspired by a contemporary medium that promises to challenge the limits of storytelling and autobiography.
dcterms.available2017-09-20T16:52:11Z
dcterms.contributorHarvey, Roberten_US
dcterms.contributorPetrey, Sandyen_US
dcterms.contributorGabbard, Krinen_US
dcterms.contributorGuins, Raiforden_US
dcterms.contributorHajdu, David.en_US
dcterms.creatorBurrows, Alice Claire
dcterms.dateAccepted2017-09-20T16:52:11Z
dcterms.dateSubmitted2017-09-20T16:52:11Z
dcterms.descriptionDepartment of Comparative Literary and Cultural Studiesen_US
dcterms.extent256 pg.en_US
dcterms.formatApplication/PDFen_US
dcterms.formatMonograph
dcterms.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/11401/77203
dcterms.issued2016-12-01
dcterms.languageen_US
dcterms.provenanceMade available in DSpace on 2017-09-20T16:52:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Burrows_grad.sunysb_0771E_12966.pdf: 4064054 bytes, checksum: 3c8c1a077bca5fd922f531a080e5055a (MD5) Previous issue date: 1en
dcterms.publisherThe Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
dcterms.subjectComics, Graphic memoir, Memory
dcterms.subjectComparative literature
dcterms.titleThe Graphic Memoir and the Cartoonist's Memory
dcterms.typeDissertation


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