Course Outline

ENGLISH 383 D1.00

STUDIES IN POPULAR LITERATURE AND CULTURE

Instructor: S. OGDEN

FALL 2009

Graphic Novels: Comic Books on Respectable Street

Comic Books are making a claim for literary respectability using the 'elegant variation' Graphic Novels. This claim will be examined in our course using empirical literary scholarship. We will subject a representative international sample of graphic novels to rigorous academic analysis of their historical, literary, visual and social aspects in the context of comics. A collection of secondary material to support this study is available on Course Reserve. Each graphic novel being, at best, material equivalent to credible short fiction and requiring, again at best, comparable reading effort, we will work from a substantial reading list at the university standard. The Lecturer has genial experience and credibility in the field-English comics first and best; North American as immigrant teen; manga from adult life in Japan-but is not otaku: student enthusiasms and genre minutiae must find their expression in assignments and tutorial.

PREREQUISITES: Credit or standing in two 100-division English courses and two 200-division English courses. Students with credit for ENGL 363 may not take this course for further credit.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Spiegelman, Art  The Complete Maus  0679406417

Gaiman, Neil  The Sandman: Vol. I : Preludes & Nocturnes 1563890119

Satrapi, Marjane  Persepolis  0375714839

Waid & Ross  Kingdom Come  1401220347

Kuroda, Iou  Sexy Voice & Robo  159116916X

Brown, Chester  Louis Riel: a Comic-Strip Biography  1894937899

Moore, Alan  From Hell  0958578346

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

10% Productive Participation

15% Evaluative Essay #1 (approx. 1500 words)

15% Evaluative Essay Review

20% Group Project

40% Final Essay (approx. 3000-3500 words)