University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2016 Neoliberal Darlings: the Commodification of Grotesque Children in Contemporary Comics and Literature Mark Heimermann University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, and the Esthetics Commons Recommended Citation Heimermann, Mark, "Neoliberal Darlings: the Commodification of Grotesque Children in Contemporary Comics and Literature" (2016). Theses and Dissertations. 1151. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/1151 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. NEOLIBERAL DARLINGS: THE COMMODIFICATION OF GROTESQUE CHILDREN IN CONTEMPORARY COMICS AND LITERATURE by Mark Heimermann A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee May 2016 ABSTRACT NEOLIBERAL DARLINGS: THE COMMODIFICATION OF GROTESQUE CHILDREN IN CONTEMPORARY COMICS AND LITERATURE by Mark Heimermann The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016 Under the Supervision of Professor Peter Sands This dissertation analyzes grotesque depictions of children in contemporary, speculative comics and literature: Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth, Ben Marcus’ The Flame Alphabet, and Richard Starkings’ Elephantmen. It argues that the grotesque in these texts embodies the tension between children as economic objects and children as social beings, as the protagonists’ nonhuman elements are used to justify their commodification.