Lorena Cornelli Linggpue e Letterature Europee e Panamericane Università degli Studi di Bergamo Letteratura Anglo-americana LM II A.A. 200/011/2012 • Frank Miller (80s): Marvel DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI • Frank Miller (80s): DC Comics DAVV()ID MAZZUCCHELLI (2)

• Rubber Blanket (90s): Richmond Lewis RUBBER BLANKET

• Near Miss RUBBER BLANKET (2) • Discovering America RUBBER BLANKET (3)

• Stop the Hair Nude DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI (3) • City of Glass (90s)

Several levels of narrative

No page numbers

Chapters WHAT IS A ?

Graphic novel vs. mainstream comics (according to Vincenzo Bavaro):

• One-volume story

• Author WHAT IS A GRAPHIC NOVEL? (2) Ciht©Copyright © POSTMODERN? • According to Remo Ceserani,,[] “[l]a nostra epoca è [...] caratterizzata dall’essere l’epoca di tutti gli stili” • Eclecticism SAUL STEINBERG

COLOURS COLOURS (2) BALLOONS THE GUTTER

Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, New York: Harper, 1994, p.66 “Check out the last 100 years of comics (in the West at least) and you’ll find a lot of variation in the size and shape of comics panels, but almost no variation in the space between panels. Mazzucchelli is a leader in consid eri ng th at negati ve space f or it s rol e i n th e story and its role on the picture plane.” THE GUTTER (2)

vs. THE GUTTER (3)

AdiAccording to Hana, “as a sculptor you’re not just making forms… you’re designing a finite area of space.” WHAT IF…?

Ivano Bariani’s “estetica del What if…?” PARODY OF MODERNISM? • According to Linda Hutcheon, "[p]arody —often call ed i roni c quot ati on, pasti ch e, appropriation, or intertextuality — is usually considered central to pp,yostmodernism, both by its detractors and its defenders". PARODY OF MODERNISM? (2)

JJ,osef Albers , Homage to the Square (1969) PARODY OF MODERNISM? (3)

Wassily Chair byyceee Marcel Breuer

Barcelona Table by Mies van der Rohe LESS IS A BORE

• Mies van der RhRohe: “Less is more” vs. • Robert Venturi in Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture: “More is not less”and “Less is a bore” INTERTEXTUALITY • References to art INTERTEXTUALITY (2) • References to Greek myths INTERTEXTUALITY (3) • References to other Mazzucchelli’s works INTERTEXTUALITY (4) • Internal references NAMES • Asterios Polyp • Spotty Drizzle • Aglia Olio • Stiff Major BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Texts

Mazzucchelli, David, Discovering America, Bologna: Coconino Press, 2001 ––, AtAster ios PlPolyp, New Y ork : P anth eon Boo ks, 2009

Secondary texts

Bavaro, Vincenzo e Donatella Izzo, “Comics, fumetti, graphic novels: dialogo intergenerazionale su un medium indisciplinato”, Acoma, 38, primavera 2009, pp. 7- 26

Ceserani, Remo, Raccontare il postmoderno, Torino: Bollati Boringhieri, 1997 ––, I mutamenti nell’immaginario letterario negli anni ‘50-‘60. Dall’intervento del 19 ggpennaio 1998 per il corso di agg iornamento "Storia dell’Italia rep ubblicana: dalla ricostruzione al boom economico", organizzato dall’Istituto per la storia della Resistenza e della società contemporanea di Asti.

Hutcheon, Linda, The Poetics of Postmodernism, London: Routledge, 1988 ––, The Politics of Postmodernism, London: Routledge, 1989

McCloud,,, Scott, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art,,p, New York: Harper, 1994

Venturi, Robert, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1966