Graphic Novels and Comics as World Literature - (Literatures as World Literature) by James Hodapp (Paperback)

About the Book

Addresses the recent emergence of graphic narratives from the non-Western world, contextualizing them within the fundamental questions of World Literature while exploring what the graphic form brings to literary studies writ large.

Book Synopsis

Graphic narratives are one of the world's great art forms, but graphic novels and comics from Europe and the United States dominate scholarly conversations about them. Building upon the little extant scholarship on graphic narratives from the Global South, this collection moves beyond a narrow Western approach to this quickly expanding field. By focusing on texts from the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia, these essays expand the study of graphic narratives to a global scale.

Graphic Novels and Comics as World Literature is also interested in how these texts engage with, fit in with, or complicate notions of World Literature. The larger theoretical framework of World Literature is joined with the postcolonial, decolonial, Global South, and similar approaches that argue explicitly or implicitly for the viability of non-Western graphic narratives on their own terms. Ultimately, this collection explores the ways that the unique formal qualities of graphic narratives from the Global South intersect with issues facing the study of international literatures, such as translation, commodification, circulation, Orientalism, and many others.

Review Quotes

"[In] seeking to broaden the definition of "World Literature" to encompass populations, identities, and countries often dismissed by Western literary studies, this collection advances a central claim relevant to scholars studying visual media in relation to postcolonialism, neoliberalism, identity politics, and marginalization: non-Western graphic novels and comics offer insight into identity politics, cultural backgrounds, and decolonization." --Midwest Modern Language Association

"Graphic Novels and Comics as World Literature is a highly compelling read for all scholars who want to expand beyond a Euro-American-Japanese-centric approach in comic research and learn about comics' crucial contribution to world literature. The comprehensive essays in this volume point out the diversity of international comic production, circulation, and reception and stress the multiplicity of comics' structural codes. They outline the need for comic research to push for a decentered approach--by envisioning universality alongside unique perspectives. In doing so, this volume convincingly discusses world literature as a processual concept rather than affirming a normative canon. I consider this volume a key addition to the disputed field of world literature; by addressing the comic medium, it presents an urgently needed debordering in thinking about the world." --Marina Rauchenbacher, Research Associate, Department of German Studies, University of Vienna, Austria, and author of Karoline von Günderrode. Eine Rezeptionsstudie (2014)

"A rich journey, this book invites us to an intimate reading of comics as world literature from a Global South perspective. Playful yet aware of what is at stake literarily and politically, it transgresses geographical as well as disciplinary borders and opens our eyes to the stories of those who, more often than not, are denied border crossing. Thoroughly researched, well written, and passionate, it will appeal to literary scholars and comic book fans alike." --Sonja Mejcher-Atassi, Associate Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature, American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and author of The Theatre of Sa'dallah Wannous: A Critical Study of the Syrian Playwright and Public Intellectual (2021)

About the Author

James Hodapp is Assistant Professor of English at Northwestern University in Qatar, and editor of Afropolitan Literature as World Literature (Bloomsbury, 2020).