The Jewish Graphic Novel

NEJS 176b

Fall, 2014

The Jewish Graphic Novel

From 1930s newspaper strips to contemporary, Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic literature, comics have a history of attracting Jewish talent and innovation. Artists like Will Eisner and Art Spiegelman helped create the genre widely known today as the “graphic novel,” which emerged from a low-brow, commercial tradition in popular culture. Appealing to literary, artistic, commercial, and popular sensibilities, comics push formal and generic boundaries. Blurring “high” and “low” art, and functioning both as works of literature and as historical artifacts, they offer multidimensional perspectives on Jewish history and on Jewish artists’ conceptions of their experiences and surroundings across time and space. By allowing text and image to interact and diverge, the graphic novel lends itself to the expression of the multilayered nature of Jewish history and identity.

Focusing on a hybrid literary form with its own compelling Jewish history, this course offers exposure to an array of questions posed in the field of modern Jewish literature and culture, as well as an opportunity to develop critical reading and writing skills applicable both to literary analysis and to the study of popular and material culture. The course will begin with a survey of the history of Jewish artists’ involvement in the production of comics and graphic narratives, followed by a unit devoted to formal reading methods and critical approaches to the genre. Organized thematically, the reading list also draws from a variety of sub-genres in which Jewish graphic novelists are working: the novel, the short story, historical non-fiction, memoir, biography, documentary, and illustration. The works included offer interpretations of immigration, American and European acculturation, religion and mysticism, Israeli society and politics, and the Holocaust and its aftermath.

Structured around these primary works, class meetings will be discussion-based, beginning with brief lectures to contextualize each work and provide relevant history. In addition to the primary works, students will be assigned secondary readings drawn from contemporary scholarship in the field.

Introduction

August 28:

●Derek Parker Royal: “Jewish Comics; Or, Visualizing Current Jewish Narrative” Shofar 29:2 (2011): pp. 1-12. (LATTE)

●Excerpts of “Superman” comics, published by National Allied Publications and DC Comics (1938- ) and “Captain America” comics, published by Marvel Comics (1941- ) (Powerpoint slideshow)

Reading Approaches

Week 1 (2 sessions)

Sept 3 and 4

●Scott McCloud: Understanding Comics, chapters 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 (1993).

●Erin McGlothlin: “Comics Terminology.” (LATTE)

●Katherine Roeder: “Looking High and Low at Comic Art” American Art 22:1 (2008): pp. 2-9. (LATTE)

●Hillary Chute: “Comics as Literature? Reading Graphic Narrative” PMLA (2008): pp. 452-457. (LATTE)

Historical Overview

Weeks 2, 3, and 4 (8 sessions)

Sept. 8

The Golden Age of Mainstream Comics and American Universalism

●Danny Fingeroth: Disguised As Clark Kent. 2007. Introduction and Chapters 1-4. pp. 23-67. (LATTE)

●Excerpts from Will Eisner’s “The Spirit” (1940- ) in The best of the Spirit and Will Eisner's The Spirit archives, anthologies published by DC Comics (Powerpoint slideshow)

Sept 10 and 11

Celebrating Difference

●Danny Fingeroth: Disguised As Clark Kent. 2007. Chapters 7-8. pp. 92-129. (LATTE)

●Cheryl Alexander Malcolm, “Witness, Trauma, and Remembrance: Holocaust Representation and X-Men Comics, in The Jewish Graphic Novel: Critical Approaches, Samantha Baskind and Ranan Omer-Sherman, eds., 2008: pp. 144-162.

●Excerpts from “Fantastic Four” comics, published by Marvel Comics (1961- )(Powerpoint slideshow)

●Excerpts from “X-Men” comics, published by Marvel Comics (1963- )(Powerpoint slideshow)

●Greg Pak and Carmine di Giandomenico: X-Men:Magneto Testament (excerpts). Marvel Entertainment. 2009.(Powerpoint slideshow)

Sept 15

Underground Comix

●Excerpts from Mad Magazine (1952- ) and its influence on the underground (LATTE)

●Excerpts from R. Crumb’s “Mr. Natural” comics (LATTE)

●B. N. Duncan: "A Joint Interview with R. Crumb and Aline Kominsky-Crumb" in R. Crumb. Conversations. D. K. Holm, ed., 2004. pp. 117-32.

Sept 17 and 18

Alternative Comics

●Charles Hatfield: “Introduction: Alternative Comics as an Emerging Literature,” Alternative Comics. 2005. pp. ix-xv(Online Access, Brandeis Library).

●Joseph Witek: “Justin Green: Autobiography Meets the Comics,” in Graphic Subjects, Michael A. Chaney, ed., 2011. pp. 227-230(Online Access, Brandeis Library).

●Excerpts from Justin Green: Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary (1972) and introduction by Art Spiegelman in reprinted edition (LATTE)

●Excerpts from R Crumb and Harvey Pekar: Bob and Harv’s Comics (1996- ) (LATTE)

Sept 22

●Charles Hatfield: “Comix, Comic Shops, and the Rise of Alternative Comics, Post 1968,” Alternative Comics. 2005. pp. 3-31. (LATTE)

●Erin McGlothlin: “Art Spiegelman and AutobioGRAPHICal Re-Vision” in Graphic Subjects, Michael A. Chaney, ed., 2011. pp. 45-50.

●Excerpts from Art Spiegelman: Breakdowns: portrait of the artist as a young %@... (1977)(Powerpoint slideshow)

●Examples from R. Crumb: Funny Aminals (1972), including Art Spiegelman’s early version of Maus (Powerpoint slideshow)

Sept 24

The Early Graphic Novel

●Peter Schjeldahl: "Words and Pictures: Graphic Novels Come of Age," New Yorker. Oct. 17, 2005. pp. 162-68. (LATTE)

●Charles Hatfield, “Wither the Graphic Novel?” Alternative Comics. 2005. pp. 152-163.

American Immigration/Acculturation/Otherness

Weeks 5 and 6 (5 sessions)

Sept 29 and Oct 1

●Will Eisner: A Life Force (1988).

Oct 2 and 6

●Excerpts from Liana Finck: Bintel Brief (2014)(Powerpoint slideshow)

●The Underworld (Di untervelt) Yiddish graphic serial (1911)(Powerpoint slideshow)

●Ruth Rosen: The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America 1900-1918 (1982): pp. 1-14. (LATTE)

Oct 7

●Leela Corman: Unterzakhn (2012).

Oct 8

●Excerpts from Ben Katchor: The Jew of New York (1998)(Powerpoint slideshow)

●Jennifer Glaser: “An Imaginary Ararat: Jewish Bodies and Jewish Homelands in Ben Katchor's The Jew of New York” MELUS 32:3, Coloring America: Multi-Ethnic Engagements with Graphic Narratives (2007): pp. 153-173. (LATTE)

Holocaust and Intergenerational Memory

Weeks 7, 8, and 9 (8 sessions)

Oct. 13 and 15

●Linda Hutcheon: “Postmodern Provocation: History and ‘Graphic’ Literature” La Torre (Revista de la Universidad de Puerto Rico) 2:4-5 (1997): pp. 299-308. (LATTE)

●Art Spiegelman: Maus I (1986).

Oct 20

●Marianne Hirsch: “Mourning and Postmemory” in Graphic Subjects, Michael A. Chaney, ed., 2011. pp. 17-44. (LATTE)

Oct 22 and 23

●Art Spiegelman: Maus II (1991).

●Hillary Chute: “‘The Shadow of a past Time’: History and Graphic Representation in Maus” Twentieth Century Literature 52:2 (2006): pp. 199-230. (LATTE)

Oct 27

●Lisa Naomi Mulman: “A Tale of Two Mice: Graphic Representations of the Jew in Holocaust Narrative.” in The Jewish Graphic Novel: Critical Approaches, Samantha Baskind and Ranan Omer-Sherman, eds., 2008: pp. 85-93. (LATTE)

●Excerpts from Art Spiegelman: Metamaus (2011)(Powerpoint slideshow)

Oct 29 and 30

●Miriam Katin: We Are On Our Own (2006)

●Samantha Baskind: “A Conversation with Miriam Katin,” in The Jewish Graphic Novel: Critical Approaches, Samantha Baskind and Ranan Omer-Sherman, eds. 2008: pp. 237-243. (LATTE)

Divided Selves

Weeks 10, 11, and 12(9 sessions)

Nov 3 and 5

●Joann Sfar: The Rabbi’s CatI (2005).

●Paul Eisenstein: “Imperfect Masters: Rabbinic Authority in Joann Sfar’s The Rabbi’s Cat” in The Jewish Graphic Novel: Critical Approaches, Samantha Baskind and Ranan Omer-Sherman, eds. 2008: pp. 163-180. (LATTE)

Nov 6 and 10

●Franz Kafka: “The Hunger Artist” (1922)

●“The Hunger Artist” in R. Crumb’s Kafka (2004)(Powerpoint slideshow)

Nov 12 and 13

●Charlotte Salomon: Life? Or Theatre? (1981)(Powerpoint slideshow)

●Julia Watson: “The Gender of Nostalgia: Charlotte Salomon’s “Postscript” to Life? or Theatre?”in Signs 28:1, Special Issue: Gender and Cultural Memory, Marianne Hirsch and Valerie Smith, eds. (2002): pp. 421-430. (LATTE)

Nov 17

●Bronwyn Davies and Rom Harre: “Positioning: The Discursive Production of Selves” in Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior 20 (1990): pp. 43-63. (LATTE)

Nov 19 and 20

●Sarah Glidden: How to Know Israel in 60 Days or Less (2011).

Israeli Responses to Trauma

Weeks 13 and 14 (4 sessions)

Nov 24 and Dec 1

●Ari Folman and David Polonsky: Waltz with Bashir (2009).

●Ayelet Kohn and Rachel Weissbrod: “Waltz with Bashir as a Case of Multidimensional Translation” in Translation, Adaptation and Transformation, Laurence Raw, ed. 2012. (LATTE)

Dec 3 and 4

●Rutu Modan: The Property (2013).

●Anat Rosenberg: “Holocaust Graphic Novels Give Israelis a Way To Connect to a Past Not Quite Theirs,” Tablet Magazine (July 2013). (LATTE)

Dec 8

Concluding discussion

Requirements and Grading Criteria

Requirements for undergraduate students

1. Active participation in class. The course is taught as a seminar. You are expected to do all reading assignments in advance and to participate in online and class discussions. In addition to reading books and articles, you will frequently be assigned to view Powerpoint slideshows of excerpts from comic books and graphic novels. You will access these Powerpoints via LATTE. Regular attendance in class is a must.

2. Written work. Undergraduates will write three 6-8 page papers with a choice of topics. Students will complete a close reading exercise prior to writing the first paper.

Grading

Class participation: 25%

Close reading exercise: 15%

Paper #1: 20%

Paper #2: 20%

Paper #3: 20%

Requirements for graduate students

Graduate students will be assigned one 20-25 page research paper on a topic to be developed in consultation with the professor. Additional secondary readings and a weekly discussion section will be offered for graduate students.

Course books are available to purchase at the Brandeis Bookstore. All course books will also be available at the reserve desk in Goldfarb Library or as electronic resources via the Brandeis Library website.

Scott McCloud: Understanding Comics (1993)

Leela Corman: Unterzakhn (2012)

Will Eisner: A Life Force (1988)

Ari Folman and David Polonsky: Waltz with Bashir (2009)

Miriam Katin: We Are On Our Own (2006)

Sarah Glidden: How to Know Israel in 60 Days or Less (2011)

Rutu Modan: The Property (2013)

Joann Sfar: The Rabbi’s CatI (2005)

Art Spiegelman: Maus I (1986)

Art Spiegelman: Maus II (1991)