+English 470.01: Studies in the Literature of Young People: Comics and Graphic Novels for Children and Adolescents Spring 2008 Professor: Jan Susina Class Meets: 5:30 p.m.--8:20 p.m. Mondays Meeting Place: Williams 112 Office: Williams 110, enter by Williams 139 Office Phone: (309) 438-3739 Email: [email protected] Office Hours: Tuesday: 2 p.m.--3 p.m.; Thursday: 11 a.m.--noon.
Tentative Syllabus
Jan. 14: Introduction and Overview to of the Course Ron Mann’s “Comic Book Confidential”
Jan. 21: Martin Luther King Jr. Day: no class.
Jan. 28: Peter Schjehahl’s “Words and Pictures: Graphic Novels come of Age,” Jessica Abel’s “What is a ‘Graphic Novel’ ?,” National Endowment for the Arts’s To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence, Caleb Crain’s “Twilight of the Books: What Will Life Be Like if People Stop Reading” (handouts) Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art Oral Report 1: Rodolphe Topffer and the invention of the comic strip ______.
Feb. 4: Guest Speaker: Jim Schiferling, Acme Comics, “The Business of Comic Books” Douglas Wolk’s Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels and What They Mean Chris Ware’s The Best American Comics 2007
Feb. 11 Charles Schulz’s Peanuts: A Golden Celebration PBS American Masters’ David Van Taylor’s “Good Old Charles Schulz” Oral Report 2: Charles Schulz and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” ______.
Feb. 18: Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm’s Babymouse Rock Star Dav Pilkey’s The Adventures of Captain Underpants Oral Report 3: Harvey Kurtzman and Mad magazine ______.
Feb. 25: Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret Oral Report 4: Winsor McCay as Cartoonist ______.
March 3: Herge’s Tintin in Tibet Oral Report 5: George Remi (Herge) and the Tintin series ______. Proposal for critical paper Due (1-2 pages) Debbi Resse, “Indigenizing the Creation and Consumption of Children’s 2
Literature” Lois Lenski Children’s Literature Lecture, 7 p.m. CVA 147.
March 10: Spring Break: no class.
March 17: Edward Gorey’s Amphigorey Oral Report 6: Karen Wilkin’s Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey ______. Analysis of Comic or Graphic Novel Due (5-7 pages)
March 19: Ivan Brunetti “The Cartoonise Eye” English Studies Lecture 7-8:30 p.m. CVA 147.
March 24: Will Eisner’s Fagin the Jew Douglas Wolk’s “Will Eisner and Frank Miller: The Raconteurs” in Reading Comics Oral Report 7: Will Eisner’s Comics and Sequential Art ______.
March 31: Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. Volume 1: My Father Bleeds History. Douglas Wolk’s “Charles Burns and Art Spiegelman: Draw Yourself Raw in in Reading Comics Oral Report 8: Art Speigelman & Fancoise Mouly’s Little Lit series ______.
April 7: Daniel Clowes’s Ghost World Cecil Catellucci & Jim Rugg’s The Plain Janes Oral Report 9: Robert Crumb and Zap Comics ______.
April 14: Chris Ware’s The Adventures of Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth Douglas Wolk’s “Why Does Chris Ware Hate Fun?” in Reading Comics Oral Report 10: Frank King and “Gasoline Alley” ______. Research Paper Due (15-20 pages)
April 21: Craig Thompson’s Blankets Douglas Wolk’s “Craig Thompson and James Kochalka: Craft Versus Cuteness” in Reading Comics Oral Report 11: George Harriman and “Krazy Kat” ______.
April 28: Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic Douglas Wolk’s “Alison Bechdel: Reframing Memory” in Reading Comics Oral Report 12: Dr. Frederic Wertham, The Seduction of the Innocent, and the Creation of the Comics Code Authority ______. Abstract of Research Paper Due (1 page) 3
May 5: Final Exam 5:30 p.m.--8:20 p.m: Five minute presentations of research papers.
Required Texts: Chris Ware. The Adventures of Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth. Pantheon Books, 2000. Art Spiegelman. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. Vol. 1: My Father Bleeds History. Pantheon, 1986. Will Eisner. Fagin the Jew. Doubleday, 2003. Craig Thompson. Blankets. Top Shelf Productions, 2003. Alison Bechdel. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Daniel Clowes. Ghost World. Fantagraphics Books, 1998. Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm. Babymouse Rock Star. Random House, 2006. Herge. Tintin in Tibet. Little Brown, 1979. Dav Pilkey. The Adventures of Captain Underpants. Scholastic, 1997. Brian Selznick. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Scholastic, 2007. Edward Gorey. Amphigorey. Perigree Trade, 1980. Charles Schulz. Peanuts: A Golden Celebration. ed. David Larkin. Harper Collins, 1999. Cecil Catellucci & Jim Rugg. The Plain Janes. Minx/DC Comic 2007. Chris Ware, ed. The Best American Comics 2007. Houghton Mifflin, 2007. Scott McCloud. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. HarperPerennial, 1993. Douglas Wolk. Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean. De Capo Press, 2007. Joseph Gibaldi. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Sixth edition. MLA, 2003.
Reserve Readings: David Kunzel. The History of the Comic Strip: The Nineteenth Century. University of California Press. 1990. Paul Gravett. Graphic Novels: Everything You Need to Know. Collins/Design, 2005. Will Eisner. Comics and Sequential Art. Poorhouse, 1985. Joseph Witek. Comic Books as History: The Narrative Art of Jack Jackson, Art Spiegelman, & Harvey Pekar. University of Mississippi, 1989. Jeet Heer & Kent Worcester, eds. Arguing Comics: Literary Masters on a Popular Medium. University of Mississippi Press, 2004. Bradford W. Wright. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. Johns Hopkins UP, 2001. Chris Ware, ed. McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern 13: An Assorted Sampler of North American Comic Drawings, Strips, and Illustrated Stories. McSweeney’s, 2004. Ivan Brunetti, ed. Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, & True Stories. Yale University Press, 2006. Bob Callahan, ed. The New Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Stories: From Crumb to Clowes. Smithsonian Books, 2004. 4
Ariel Schrag, ed. Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age. Viking, 2007. John Carlin, Paul Karasik & Brian Walker. eds. Master of American Comics. Yale University Press, 2005. Todd Hignite. In the Studio: Visits with Contemporary Cartoonists. Yale University Press, 2006.
Course Description: “The graphic novel is not literary fiction’s half-wit cousin, but, more accurately, the mutant sister who can often do everything fiction can, and, just as often,” writes Dave Eggers, author and editor of The Believer and McSweeney’s. Comics and graphic novels are found everywhere: in public libraries, in the classroom and even in the New York Times Magazine, although the newspaper still refuses to feature Sunday comics. Comics and graphic novels have not only come of age as significant visual narratives, they are increasingly being created for and read by children and teen readers. This course will focus on a variety of comics and graphic novels that are being produced for and/or read by children and adolescent readers. The course will provide a historical and cultural background tracing the development of these closely aligned genres. The primary focus will be on some of the more critically acclaimed contemporary examples. In addition to the required texts, the course will also be examining selections from the work of Rodolphe Topffer, Herge, George Herriman, Winsor McKay, Frank King, Charles Schulz, Stan Lee, Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, Harvey Pekar, Art Spiegelman, Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, Craig Thompson, Dav Pilkey, Lynda Barry, Charles Burns, and Alison Bechdel. We will view Ron Mann’s “Comic Book Confidential” as well as selections from Winsor McCay’s “Animated Legend of Winsor McCay,” Terry Zwigoff’s “Crumb,” and Shari Springer Berman’s & Robert Pulcini’s “American Splendor.” The two primary critical texts for the seminar will be Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics and Douglas Wolk’s Reading Comics. These texts will be supplemented with reserve reading and class handouts. While this course is intended for students working in the fields of children’s and adolescent literature, it should be applicable to those students interested in visual culture, popular culture & theory, and contemporary literature.
Course Format: The course will be conducted as a seminar which means that students are expected to come to class for active discussion of the reading assignments. All students will give an oral presentation on a prearranged topic and will create and distribute a handout (2-3 page) on the topic for every member of the class. Students will write an analysis and critique (5-7 page) on a graphic novel or comic for children or adolescents and a research paper (15 to 20 pages) dealing with comics and/or graphic novels. Students will create an abstract of their research paper (1 page) and given a five-minute presentation on their research topic. Beginning the second week of class, students will turn in weekly response papers on assigned primary and critical readings. Throughout the semester, there will be short written assignments related to the primary texts and critical readings. 5
Class Attendance: Class attendance is an important and valuable aspect of the course. If you aren't in class, you ought to have a good reason for your absence. Since the class meets once a week, missing a class session is missing a week of class. Since you can't be two places at the same time, avoid scheduling other activities during class time. If you must miss a session, contact me before class by email or telephone, if at all possible. Since class participation will be evaluated as part of your responsibilities in this course, missing more than one class will lower your final grade one half a letter grade for each additional class sessions missed.
Research Paper: Each student will write a critical paper (15 to 20 pages) on a comic or graphic novel with approval by the instructor. Students are encouraged to write on one of the texts that the class is reading in common or another one composed by one of the authors read in the class. Students will write a short (1-2 page) proposal for their research topic, which needs to be reviewed and approved by the instructor. For the final exam, students will present a five presentation on their research and provide a one-page abstract of the research paper. Written work should conform to the format presented in the MLA Handbook for appropriate quotation and citation. Critical papers need a minimum of seven secondary sources in their Works Cited section. Only half of the secondary sources used in the Works Cited can be electronic sources. Students need to keep a copy of all their written work.
Class Presentation and Presentation Handout: Each student will give a fifteen-minute class presentation selected from a list of rearranged topics. Students will introduce the topic to the class and lead class discussion on the subject. In addition to the presentation, each student will construct a handout (2-3 page) to accompany their presentation to be distributed to each member of the class on the day of the presentation. Presentation handouts should list at least three secondary sources as part of the handout’s Works Cited section.
Class Assignments: Through the semester, students will be asked to complete a series of short writing assignments linked to the reading and class discussion. Students will turn in a weekly written response on the assigned reading. A student missing a class in which in-class assignment is given or a class when an assignment is due will be unable to turn in the assignment late. This will be factored into your Class Assignment and Class Participation section of your final grade.
Plagiarism/ Cheating: Please review the Illinois State University policy in the Graduate Catalog under “Academic Integrity” (29-30) and chapter 2: “Plagiarism” (66-75) in the MLA Handbook. Plagiarism and cheating are serious academic offenses and will be punished by failure on an exam, paper, project, and in some cases result in failure in the course and/or expulsion from the university. All written work submitted for this course needs to be your own and 6 produced for this specific course. Please consult the MLA Handbook for appropriate format for quotations and citations for your written work.
Grading: Grades will be assigned according to the following standard: Class presentation: 10% Presentation handout: 10% Analysis of comic or graphic novel: 20% Research Paper: 30% Class Assignments: 20% Class Participation: 10%