Literary Kinds

An article entitled "Next Big Thing in English: Knowing They Know That You Know" asks some interesting questions (broadly, but well).

Here are some snippets that might be particularly pertinent:

"The brain may be it. Getting to the root of people’s fascination with fiction and fantasy, Mr. Gottschall said, is like “mapping wonderland.”"

As someone who has never read Persepolis I was completely shocked once I did finish the novel. My exact words were “well, that was not what I thought it would be”. It feels idiotic to admit but before I even read a page I thought less of the graphic narrative because of the simplicity of the pictures. I assumed that because it was so popular worldwide, unlike A Game of You, that the narrative would not be difficult to follow or the topic would just follow the life of a person in a foreign country, nothing too heavy. I will NEVER make that assumption again. Persepolis was an entirely different graphic narrative than A Game of You and in turn provided a new reading experience. I loved reading A Game of You and I adored to colorful and intricate drawings.

Anne's point-blank question got me thinking today in class- why do I prefer words over images?  I came up with the following answers to the query: I thoroughly enjoy the work that it takes to understand language. The thrill I get out of word analysis and even further, close reading, is unlike what I feel when I look at a picture, with all the details laid out for me.  Little work is involved here: also, the room for interpretation is relatively small.  Where's the thrill in that?  I feel like drawings are like answers are given to you; hardly any effort or interpretation required!  Pictures result in immediate comprehension, while words result in a journey to understanding.  I love this journey!  

Text message conversation, properly capitolized and with added punctuation for your reading pleasure:

aseidman: What is so undignified about thought bubbles? Prof Dalke asked.

Dave Joria: Because our natural state of being is to know only one person's thoughts at a time. Captions are normally stuck to one person and are more contemplative.

aseidman: So, it's all about making it a more realistic experience? Pithy!

Dave Joria: You realize that you are being graded in this class, not me. Right?

aseidman: But you have such brilliant things to say.

Dave Joria: Flattery, on the other hand, will get you everywhere.

I think Persepolis may be the first thing I've really, really enjoyed reading in a while; I read it all in one shot.  I really liked the simplicity of the style and never found myself reading the words instead of looking at the pictures, even though I am drawn to words like many of the people in our class.  A Game of You made me realize that reading graphic novels may not always be a quick process, but even though Persepolis is a lot thicker, I think I got through it more quickly.  There seemed to be less text on each page. 

Married to the Sea (the website where this comic is from) is a web comic that I look at daily.  It's not a typical comic in that it doesn't follow a story line--every day there's just a different drawing with words, and the one for today reminded me of what we've been doing in class lately.

A broad question, but important, I think for what we are looking at. I guess I started thinking (too much?) about Anne Dalke's question to me: did I have any expectations/answers of my own for how to read graphic novels? I think I need to change my no to a yes, or at least a hesitant yes with a very vague answer.

I was really delighted today to learn so much about graphic novels, especially the actual process, and how close they really come to movies. Also, the debate of whether pictures are 'received' more than 'perceived' --part of me wants to read the Scott McCloud books Right Now and Understand What He Means, but that probably won't happen immediately, so... instead, I am excited for the debate to continue in class.

 Neil Gaiman's "A Game of You" and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland were both works that were very dream-centric.  I read some posts that talked about movies centering on dreams, and I thought of a couple of movies I've seen that rely completely on the principle of dreams.