Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T09:11:34.177Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 12 - Comics at the Limits of Narration

from Part II - Readings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2023

Maaheen Ahmed
Affiliation:
Universiteit Gent, Belgium
Get access

Summary

Discourses about comics focus very often on their narrative dimension to the extent that they are frequently considered as narratives per se. Driven by the ambition to rethink established formulas, alternative publishers show examples of works that invite to move beyond this approach. This chapter looks at comics that do not tell a story (in the narrow sense of the word) or question familiar narratives. It focuses on abstract comics or comics made of series of unrelated images. Building on the works of creators that tend to remain under the radar such as Rosaire Appel, Renée French, Tim Gaze, or Bianca Stone, this chapter delineates possibilities for understanding these creations and the specific kinds of pleasure they generate. By highlighting their links with other media, in particular music and poetry, it emphasizes how the reader’s response is closely linked to their horizon of expectations. Finally, it shows that the study of comics that are at the limits of narration allow to reassess how we see comics in general, including those that privilege the story.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Primary Sources

Appel, Rosaire. wordlesss (poems). Self-Published 2013.Google Scholar
Appel, Rosaire. Soundtrack/s. Press Rappel, 2018.Google Scholar
Appel, Rosaire. Perturbations. Adverse, 2019.Google Scholar
French, Renée. h day. Picture Box, 2010.Google Scholar
Gaze, Tim. 100 Scenes. A Graphic Novel. Asemic, 2010.Google Scholar
Mahato, Mita. It’s All Over and Other Poems on Animals. [Self-Published], 2020.Google Scholar
Molotiu, Andrei. Abstract Comics: The Anthology. Fantagraphics, 2009.Google Scholar
Stone, Bianca. Poetry Comics from the Book of Hours. Pleiades Press, 2016.Google Scholar
Tabulo, Kym. What Would Paul Klee Say? [Self-Published] 2016.Google Scholar

Secondary Sources

Altarriba, Alberto. “Propositions pour une analyse spécifique du récit en bande dessinée.” Bande Dessinée, récit et modernité. Colloque de Cerisy, 1–11 Août 1987, edited by Groensteen, Thierry. Futuropolis, 1988, pp. 2544.Google Scholar
Baetens, Jan. “Abstraction in Comics.” SubStance, vol. 40, no. 124, 2011, pp. 94113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baroni, Raphaël. “Tensions et résolutions: Musicalité de l’intrigue ou intrigue musicale?.” Cahiers de narratologie. Analyse et théorie narrative, no. 21, 2011. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.4000/narratologie.6390CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beineke, Colin. “On Comicity.” Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, vol. 1, no. 2, 2017, pp. 226253.Google Scholar
Dejasse, Erwin. “Art Brut and Alternative Comics: Reciprocal Sympathies.” Études Francophones, vol. 32, 2022, pp. 197220.Google Scholar
Dueben, Alex. “A Bianca Stone Interview.” The Comics Journal, 18 September 2021. www.tcj.com/a-bianca-stone-interview/Google Scholar
Fresnault-Deruelle, Pierre. “From Linear to Tabular (1976).” The French Comics Theory Reader, edited by Beaty, Bart and Miller, Ann. Leuven University Press, 2014, pp. 121138.Google Scholar
Goldberg, Myla. Renee French “H Day” Part 2. Interview by Myla Goldberg. Youtube, 2010 www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPghC2GqMTcGoogle Scholar
Groensteen, Thierry. Comics and Narration. University Press of Mississippi, 2018.Google Scholar
Groensteen, Thierry. “Fictions sans frontières.” La Transécriture: Pour une théorie de l’adaptation, edited by Gaudreault, André and Groensteen, Thierry. Nota Bene, 1998, pp. 929.Google Scholar
Groensteen, Thierry. The System of Comics. University Press of Mississippi, 2009.Google Scholar
Groupe µ. Traité visuel du signe. Seuil, 1992.Google Scholar
Hatfield, Charles. Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby. University Press of Mississippi, 2012.Google Scholar
Isabelinho, Domingos. “Monthly Stumblings # 14: Tim Gaze.” The Hooded Utilitarian, 8 March 2012. www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2012/03/monthly-stumblings-14-tim-gazeGoogle Scholar
Jauss, Hans Robert. Toward an Aesthetic of Reception. University of Minnesota Press, 1982.Google Scholar
Marion, Philippe. Traces en cases: Travail graphique, figuration narrative et participation du lecteur. Academia, 1993.Google Scholar
Méchoulan, Éric. “Intermédialité, ou comment penser les transmissions.” Fabula / Les Colloques: Création, intermédialité, dispositif, 5 March 2017. www.fabula.org/colloques/document4278.phpGoogle Scholar
Menu, Jean-Christophe. La bande dessinée et son double: Langage et marges de la bande dessinée. L’Association, 2011.Google Scholar
Michaux, Henri. Passages (1937–1963). Gallimard, 1998.Google Scholar
Postema, Barbara. “Adding Up to What? Degrees of Narration and Abstraction in Wordless Comics.” Abstraction and Comics / Bande dessinée et abstraction, edited by Rommens, Aarnoud et al. Presses Universitaires de Liège / La 5e Couche, 2019, pp. 284298.Google Scholar
Rothman, Alexander. Alexander Rothman, https://versequential.com/.Google Scholar
Rothman, Alexander. “What Is Comics Poetry?” Solrad. The Online Literary Magazine for Comics, 4 March 2020. https://solrad.co/what-is-comics-poetry-an-essay-by-alexander-rothmanGoogle Scholar
Schmul, Elizabeth. “On ‘Poetry Comics from The Book of Hours’: An Interview with Bianca Stone.” Michigan Quarterly Review, May 2016. https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mqr/2016/01/on-poetry-comics-from-the-book-of-hours-an-interview-with-bianca-stone/Google Scholar
Stone, Bianca. “Notes on Time and Poetry Comics.” Abstraction and Comics/ Bande dessinée et abstraction, edited by Rommens, Aarnoud et al. Presses Universitaires de Liège / La 5e Couche, 2019, pp. 210228.Google Scholar
Tabulo, Kym. The Art of Abstract Comics. Pecha Kucha, 5 September 2016. www.pechakucha.com/presentations/the-art-of-abstract-comicsGoogle Scholar
Tabulo, Kym. “Abstract Sequential Art: An Artists Insight.” Abstraction and Comics / Bande dessinée et abstraction, edited by Rommens, Aarnoud et al. Presses Universitaires de Liège / La 5e Couche, 2019, pp. 147165.Google Scholar
Yaniv, Etty. “Rosaire Appel – Cajoling Sound and Image [Interview].” Art Spiel. Reflections on the Work of Contemporary Artists, 29 June 2018. https://artspiel.org/rosaire-appel-cajoling-sound-and-image/Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×