ENGL 325 - Studies in Genre

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

An In-depth study of specific forms or types of literature, such as satire, humor, gothic fiction, realism, slave narratives, science fiction, crime, romance, adventure, short story, epic, autobiography, hypertext, and screenplay. Each year, one or more of these genres is investigated in depth. The course may cross national borders and historical periods or adhere to boundaries of time and place.

Topic for 2022/23a: Graphic Narratives. An exploration of topics in comics history, theory, aesthetics, and politics. Subjects and texts may include: early comics experimentation (George Herriman’s Krazy Kat); genre and gender (Wonder Woman from origins to contemporary permutations), women’s diary comics (Julie Doucet’s My New York Diary and Gabrielle Bell’s July 2011), graphic journalism (Joe Sacco’s Safe Area Gorazde), graphic horror and representation (Charles Burns’s Black Hole), race and representation (Jennings’ and Duffy’s The Hole: Consumer Culture, Volume 1), meta-comics (Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan), comics and disability (the Oracle series, Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye, and Allie Brosch’s “Hyperbole and a Half”), comics and sexuality (Bisco Hatori’s Ouran High School Host Club and Carol Swain’s Gast), comics and immigration (Shaun Tan’s The Arrival), comics and media culture (Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina), and comics and the culture of children (Schulz’s Peanuts, Jansson’s Moomin, and Barry’s Marlys). Readings also include materials in comics studies, media studies, and literary studies. Peter Antelyes.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: CLS