THE LITERARY “LADY OF THE EVENING:”

THE GRAPHIC NOVEL IN ACADEMIA

Jennifer Beattie, Arts and SciencesTri-County Technical College

Pendleton, SC

THE LADY OF THE EVENING? Me

“I don’t read comic books!” Neil Gaiman

“All of a sudden I felt like someone who'd been informed that she wasn't actually a hooker; that in fact she was a lady of the evening."

Daniel Raeburn "the literary equivalent of calling a garbage

man a 'sanitation engineer.'"

THE SANITATION ENGINEER? Is graphic novel, then, just a euphemism

for comic book, or is it something else altogether?

Does the graphic novel have literary merit, or is it just lowbrow, popular fiction?

Does it belong in academic library collections, in college literature classrooms?

WHAT IS A GRAPHIC NOVEL? Definition

a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format.

suggests a complete story that has a beginning, middle and end, as opposed to an ongoing series.

implies a story that is outside the genres commonly associated with comic books, or that deals with more mature themes

History…

from Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake (1790-1793)

Image from the 1934 graphic novel Une semaine de bonté ("A Week of Kindness") by Max Ernst

Classics Illustrated 1941-1971Albert Kanter

Confessions Illustrated1956

WHAT IS LITERATURE? Debatable

Littera = lettersArt

Evolving definitionStandards of literary value change over

time “imaginative works of exceptional

quality” “what gets taught in schools and

colleges” “a particular kind of attention to

language”

WHAT IS LITERATURE? Aristotle: mimesis, or imitation of life The Secondary World Theory The creation mirrors the author’s

primary world, both are highly structuredPlotCharactersToneSymbolsConflict

WHAT IS LITERATURE? The Test of Time Theory Aesthetics Storytelling

THE ACADEMY The literary canon

Agreed upon works that are important to read or study

Changes in last 40 years Expanded Diversified

MEANWHILE, BACK TO THE QUESTION…

Does the graphic novel

fit these definitions?Does it

deserve a place in the

canon?

AND THE ANSWER…

What: The Literary CanonWhere: Our Schools and

CollegesWhen: Now!

To: “Lady of the Evening” & “Sanitation

Engineer”