2007-08 AM Welcome to the Desert of the Real: History, Trauma, and Popular Culture

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This course starts out to explain what comics are and to provide a historical overview, from The Yellow Kid to In the Shadow of No Towers. The course aims to deepen our understanding of the origins and development of comics or the graphic novel and popular culture in the United States.

Art Spiegelman's two volumes Maus: My Father Bleeds History and Maus II: Here My Troubles Began as well as his recent book In the Shadow of No Towers are put into the center of attention in our class discussions. We will explore comics as forms and interpretations to ask how catastrophic events are/ can be remembered.

In conversation with recent readings at the juncture of trauma, memory, visuality, and performance (e.g. Dominick LaCapra, Hayden White, Cathy Caruth, Shoshana Felman, Dori Laub, James Edward Young, Aleida Assmann) this course will address cases drawn from the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, and 9/11.

Prerequisites for certificate: regular attendance, active participation, mid-term essay, in-class oral presentation (approx. 15 minutes), final paper (10-12 pages, approx. 5000 words)

Starting on: 23.10.2007

Please purchase Art Spiegelman's The Complete Maus (Penguin Books, 2003) and In the Shadow of No Towers (Pantheon Books, 2004).


Syllabus

Intro

Oct. 23, 2007 Organization


Part I: Preliminaries

Oct. 30, 2007 Comics, Popular Culture, and Literary Studies I: Generalities 

                       Text: David Carrier, “Combining Words and Pictures to Create  
                       Legitimate Art”

Nov. 6, 2007 Comics, Popular Culture, and Literary Studies II: Beginnings 

                       Presentation: “The Comic Strip at the Turn of the Century”
                       Texts: 1) Ian Gordon, “From Caricature to Comic Strips: The Shaping 
                       of Comic Art as Commodity”; 2) Francis Lacassin, “The Comic Strip 
                       and Film Language”

Nov. 13, 2007 Comics, Popular Culture, and Literary Studies III: Superheroes 

                       Presentation: “The Comic Strip and Post-WWII America”
                       Text: Umberto Eco: “The Myth of Superman”


Part II: Art Spiegelman

Nov. 20, 2007 MAUS I: My Father Bleeds History

Nov. 27, 2007 MAUS I: My Father Bleeds History 

                       Text: Miles Orvell, “Writing Posthistorically: Krazy Kat, Maus, and 
                       the Contemporary Fiction Cartoon”

Dec. 4, 2007 MAUS II: And Here My Troubles Began 

                       Presentation: “Trauma, and Representation(s) of Trauma”
                       Texts: 1) Dominick LaCapra, “‘Twas the Night before Christmas: Art 
                       Spiegelman’s Maus”; 2) Michael E. Staub, “The Shoah Goes On and On:  
                       Remembrance and Representation in Art Spiegelman’s Maus”

Dec. 11, 2007 MAUS II: And Here My Troubles Began 

                       Text: James Edward Young, “The Holocaust as Vicarious Past: Art 
                       Spiegelman’s Maus and the Afterimages of History” 
                       Written Assignment: Mid-term essay (topic will be distributed in 
                       class)

Dec. 18, 2007 In the Shadow of No Towers(beginning) 

                       Texts: 1) Dori Laub, “September 11, 2001—An Event without a Voice”; 
                       2) David L. Eng, “The Value of Silence”


CHRISTMAS BREAK


Jan. 8, 2008 In the Shadow of No Towers, cont'd 

                       Texts: 1) Slavoj Zizek: “Passions of the Real, Passions of 
                       Semblance”; 2) Neil Leach, “9/11”; 3) Will Eisner, “The Real Thing” 
                       and “Reality 9/11”

ATTENTION: Deadline to submit the mid-term essay!

Jan. 15, 2008 In the Shadow of No Towers, cont'd 

                       Presentation: “Approaches to 9/11: TriBeCa Sunset and The 9/11 
                       Report – A Graphic Adaptation”
                       Text: Claire Kahane, “Uncanny Sights: The Anticipation of the 
                       Abomination”


Part III: Other Forms

Jan. 22, 2008 Comics Today 

                       Texts: Harvey Pekar American Splendor (excerpts); The Nam (tentative)

Jan. 29, 2008 Comics Today, cont’d 

                       Presentation: “The Japanese Manga”

Febr. 5, 2008 Comics Today, cont’d Round-up


Reading Requirements

  • Carrier, David. “Combining Words and Pictures to Create Legitimate Art.” Comic Books: Examining Pop Culture. Ed. David M. Haugen. Detroit, New York et al.: Thomson Gale, 2005. 32-42.
  • Eco, Umberto. “The Myth of Superman.” Arguing Comics: Literary Masters on a Popular Medium. Eds. Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester. Jackson: U of Mississippi P, 2004. 146-164.
  • Eisner, Will. “The Real Thing.” 9-11: The World’s Finest Comic Book Writers and Artists Tell Stories to Remember. New York: DC Comics, 2002. 17-18.
  • Eisner, Will. “Reality 9/11” 9-11: Emergency Relief. Ed. Jeff Mason. New York: Alternative Comics, 2002. 45.
  • Eng, David L.. “The Value of Silence.” Theatre Journal 54 (2002): 85-94.
  • Gordon, Ian. “From Caricature to Comic Strips: The Shaping of Comic Art as Commodity.” Comic Strips and Consumer Culture, 1890-1945. Ian Gordon. Washington & London: Smithsonian Institution P, 1998.14-36.
  • Kahane, Claire. “Uncanny Sights: The Anticipation of the Abomination.” Trauma at Home After 9/11. Ed. Judith Greenberg. Lincoln & London: U of Nebraska P, 2003.
  • Lacassin, Francis. “The Comic Strip and Film Language.” Film Quarterly 26.1 (Autumn, 1972): 11-23.
  • LaCapra, Dominick. “‘Twas the Night before Christmas: Art Spiegelman’s Maus.” History and Memory After Auschwitz. Ithaca & London: Cornell UP, 1998. 139-179.
  • Laub, Dori. “September 11, 2001—An Event without a Voice.” Trauma at Home After 9/11. Ed. Judith Greenberg. Lincoln & London: U of Nebraska P, 2003. 204-215.
  • Leach, Neil. “9/11.” Diacritics 33.3-4 (Fall/Winter, 2003): 75-92.
  • Orvell, Miles. “Writing Posthistorically: Krazy Kat, Maus, and the Contemporary Fiction Cartoon.” American Literary History 4.1 (Spring, 1992): 110-128.
  • Pekar, Harvey. American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar. New York: Ballantine Books, 1987. (excerpts)
  • Staub, Michael E. “The Shoah Goes On and On: Remembrance and Representation in Art Spiegelman’s Maus.” MELUS 20.3 (Autumn, 1995): 33-46.
  • Spiegelman, Art. In the Shadow of No Towers. New York: Pantheon, 2004.
  • Spiegelman, Art. The Complete Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. London, New York et al.: Penguin, 2003.
  • Young, James Edward. “The Holocaust as Vicarious Past: Art Spiegelman’s Maus and the Afterimages of History.” Critical Inquiry 24 (Spring 1998): 666-699.
  • Zizek, Slavoj. “Passions of the Real, Passions of Semblance.” Welcome to the Desert of the Real. London & New York: Verso, 2002. 5-32.

Texts are available at “Wersig” (copy shop, Ammerländer Heerstr. 108). Reading suggestions and additional texts (for oral presentations) will be made available in the course reader on the reserve shelf in the library. Further texts will be distributed in class, and/or will be made available in the library.

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