FRS 181:  Graphic America:  Comics, Graphic Narrative, and American Culture

Alfred Bendixen, Ph.D.

In 1986, the publication of Maus, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and Watchmen transformed a popular form of American entertainment, the comic book, into a new literary and artistic form that demanded serious attention from readers and scholars, the graphic novel.  In this seminar, we will explore some of the core texts of this new emerging canon of graphic narrative, paying particular attention to how specific works combine language and visual imagery in ways that enlarge the possibilities of narrative form and that provide a new kind of critique of American culture.  We will develop strategies for interpreting and evaluating the cultural significance and aesthetic quality of narratives based on sequential art. 

Our exploration will begin with one of the most popular American comic strips, Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes, which will enable us to define the specific characteristics of the form and its capacity to mask philosophical complexity with deceptive simplicity.  We then move on to some of the recognized masterpieces, including Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, Alan Moore’s Watchmen, Art Spiegelman’s Maus, and Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and some graphic explorations of American life that seem likely to enter this new canon, such as Gene LuenYang’s American Born Chinese, Craig Thompson’s Blankets, Roz Chast’s Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant, Will Eisner’s To the Heart of the Storm, and Howard Cruse’s  Stuck Rubber Baby.  These texts provide new ways of looking at race, class, sexuality, gender, and the whole process of growing up and growing older in the United States. By the end of the class, students should discover some new and amazing books and, more importantly, discover new ways of reading the graphic narrative and the culture it both depicts and critiques.

Assignments, Expectations, and Grading: Regular attendance and timely completion of all reading assignments are expected.  Final Grades will be based on the following:

Requirements/Grading:
Three short papers: 45%

Term Paper: 35%
Class/Precept Participation: 20%

Reading/Writing assignments:
approx. 250-300 pages of reading per week.  Three short papers (4-5 pages), one longer seminar essay (8-12 pages)

Note on Papers:  three short papers (each about five pages or 1500 words); the longer seminar essay (approx. 8-12 pages or 2750-3500 words) will probably be a revision and expansion of one of the shorter papers, incorporating outside sources.

General Education designation: LA

Weekly Schedule of Readings and Assignments

September 14:  Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes: The Tenth Anniversary Book

                        Introduction to reading Graphic Narratives.

Sept  21: Will Eisner, To the Heart of the Storm

Sept 28: Alison Bechdel, Fun Home

Oct     5:  Art Spiegelman, Maus I

(First paper due)

Oct    12:  Maus II continued

Oct    19:   Jennifer Hayden, The Story of My Tits

                    Class visit by author

Oct   26:  Frank Miller, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986)

exam week

Nov   9:  Alan Moore, Watchmen (1986-7)

(Second paper due)

Nov 16:   Gene LuenYang, American Born Chinese (2008)

Thanksgiving

Nov 30:  Craig Thompson, Blankets

Dec   7:  Howard Cruse, Stuck Rubber Baby

Dec 14:  Roz Chast, Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant

 (Third paper due)

Final Term Paper: a revision and expansion of one of the shorter papers. Due on Dean’s Date, January 17, 2017.

Alfred Bendixen, Princeton University