- Ghent University
Blandijnberg 2 , 9000 Gent
Belgium
- KU Leuven, Literature and culture, Department MemberUniversità di Bologna, Dipartimento di Lingue, Letterature e Culture Moderne, Department Memberadd
- Comparative Literature, Literary Theory, Cultural Studies, Critical Theory, Comics Studies, Comics and Graphic Novels, and 29 moreNostalgia, Retromania, Film Studies, Translation Studies, Languages and Linguistics, Linguistics, Narratology, Creative Writing, Creativity, Literature, Philosophy, History, Psychology, Sociology, Magical Realism, Fantastic Literature, Mimesis, Humor Studies, Anthropology, Communication, Political Science, Social Sciences, Art History, Second Language Acquisition, Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics, Digital Humanities, Digital Media, and Digital Comicsedit
- Giorgio Busi Rizzi is FWO post-doctoral fellow (investigating authorship in postdigital comics) at Ghent University, ... moreGiorgio Busi Rizzi is FWO post-doctoral fellow (investigating authorship in postdigital comics) at Ghent University, where he is also adjunct professor, teaching the English Literature and the Comics and Graphic Novel courses. His current project investigates authorship in post-digital comics.
He holds a PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies with joint supervision from the Universities of Bologna and Leuven. His PhD thesis, analyzing nostalgic aesthetics and practices in contemporary graphic novels, is currently submitted for publication. His first post-doctoral project, funded by a BOF fellowship from Ghent University, was called Experimental digital comics: forms and functions. Later, he was post-doctoral researcher for the ERC project Children in Comics at Ghent University.
He is a founding member of the international research group on Italian comics – Studying ‘n’ Investigating Fumetti (SNIF), and a member of several international research groups on comics (CSS, ComFor, La Brèche, ACME). His contributions have appeared in The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, Studies in Comics, European Comic Art, and the Cambridge Companion to Comics.
He is interested in comics studies, narratology, digital humanities and mediology.edit
This academic poster was created for the DH Benelux 2024 conference. It proposes a preliminary survey of the early years of the auteur comics magazines Linus and Charlie. The Italian monthly magazine Linus, launched in 1965, aimed to... more
This academic poster was created for the DH Benelux 2024 conference. It proposes a preliminary survey of the early years of the auteur comics magazines Linus and Charlie. The Italian monthly magazine Linus, launched in 1965, aimed to publish high-quality comics for a mature, educated audience, marking a novel approach in Italy. Linus featured contributions from intellectuals and artists, with a significant cultural influence, engaging with arts and politics. It introduced and contextualized foreign comics, nurturing a unique local comics tradition. Inspired by Linus, the French magazine Charlie was founded in 1969, maintaining a similar positioning with a touch of irreverence. This pilot research aims to build a database and employ network analysis to position Linus and Charlie within their transnational and transmedial contexts, utilizing digital humanities tools to explore their cultural significance. The study eventually aims to develop a method for analyzing a broader corpus of European comics magazines from the 1960s onwards, integrating media sociology, cultural studies, and historical research.
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It is difficult to clearly frame the relationships between a medium such as comics and (old and new) generations. Still, the role of comics in defining a generational condition cannot be underestimated. Not only because comics have helped... more
It is difficult to clearly frame the relationships between a medium such as comics and (old and new) generations. Still, the role of comics in defining a generational condition cannot be underestimated. Not only because comics have helped give voice to and show generational similarities and belongings, but also because the imaginary of different generations has manifested itself in the various media practices of consumption and production that have characterized the history of comics. Comics is thus a fertile ground for analysis to investigate the dynamics that contribute to creating that “conception of the world” (Mannheim 1928) capable of orienting young people’s experiences and emotional lives. Thanks to its hybrid nature, its flexibility, and its extraordinary ability to feed on and intertwine with other media, comics thus give us an overview of the fundamental role that media play in shaping the identity of new generations. Through a genealogical reconstruction of the relationships between Italian comics and generational imaginary, we will therefore try to understand how repertoires of memory, symbolic contents, and narratives combine to create, over time, cohorts united by a common sense, an encyclopaedia and a value system that allow mutual recognition among members of the same generation.
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Nostalgia is an emotion that binds a memory to an emotional component, divided between melancholy and comfort. In comics, nostalgia can be elicited through several thematic, formal, and structural triggers. McGuire's Here (2014) is a... more
Nostalgia is an emotion that binds a memory to an emotional component, divided between melancholy and comfort. In comics, nostalgia can be elicited through several thematic, formal, and structural triggers. McGuire's Here (2014) is a peculiar example of these dynamics. Through a non-chronological, fragmentary progression, the graphic novel tells several mundane moments of millions of years of a corner of the United States, seen from a fixed perspective and occupied mainly by a living room. Here thus shows, on first analysis, a scattered and frayed plot, which implies low narrativity and should result in an anti-nostalgic attitude. However, these effects are countered by an antithetical set of mechanisms that ask to imbue the transitions between panels with meaning and reconstitute the textual network of semantic and plastic echoes, encouraging active reading and producing ambivalent effects for the nostalgic feeling.
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This article attempts to unpack the complexity of digital comics by quickly reconstructing their salient evolutionary lines, contextualizing them within the broader media landscape and discussing the directions they are prominently... more
This article attempts to unpack the complexity of digital comics by quickly reconstructing their salient evolutionary lines, contextualizing them within the broader media landscape and discussing the directions they are prominently developing. It begins by tracing the many remediations that have marked the history of comics, foregrounding some tensions underlying the comics form: seriality and its implications; the dialectic between popular form and artwork; and the influence of orality, most evident in their early days and again, many years later, after the digital turn. In particular, we will highlight the close relationship between cinema and comics and, after the advent of digital, between the latter and video games. In underlining affinities and divergences between diverse media forms, the article focuses on two particularly significant examples: Lorenzo Ghetti and Carlo Trimarchi’s To Be Continued, a webcomic capable of experimenting with and enlivening many of the possibilities of digital comics; and Andrew Hussie’s Homestuck, probably the most successful compromise between the complexity of plot, storyworld breadth and formal features on the one hand, and expansive, participatory transmediality on the other. In doing so, this article aims to achieve a quick yet compelling overview of digital comics from the perspective of media archaeology, situating them both diachronically throughout their history, and synchronically, in relation to the other media that feed them and are in turn fed by them, cyclically, across media boundaries.
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Digital comics, marked by their dynamic evolution, encompass a wide range of narrative styles, artistic techniques and interactive features. They hold the potential to transform how we engage with digital and virtual spaces, carrying... more
Digital comics, marked by their dynamic evolution, encompass a wide range of narrative styles, artistic techniques and interactive features. They hold the potential to transform how we engage with digital and virtual spaces, carrying significant implications for society, culture and politics. The investigation conducted in this Special Issue aims to shed light on the dynamic interplay between comics and digital technology, examining how it redefines traditional narratives and practices and contributes to a reshaping of our understanding of society and culture. This editorial note functions as an introduction to the topic of digital comics and it has the objective of outlining the rationale of the Special Issue, which is organized into three sections, focused on the forms, practices and audiences of digital comics. The first section delves into the historical and cultural context of digital comics, tracing their evolution from early computer-generated works to contemporary digital productions. The second section explores the creative aspects of digital comics, including the integration of multimedia elements and the challenges of translating digital formats into print. The final section investigates the relationship between digital comics and their audience, examining how social media and digital platforms influence the creation, distribution and reception of digital comics. We argue that the comprehensive analysis that this Special Issue proposes unravels and analyses the multifaceted nature of digital comics, making a valuable contribution to the ongoing discourse surrounding this dynamic medium. It underscores the necessity for the methodical combination of interdisciplinary research perspectives to navigate the complex interplay between analogue and digital practices, forms and technologies, cultural paradigms, and forthcoming developments.
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This article looks at the intersection of web-based comics and print graphic memoirs authored by transgender Brazilian comics artists. Brazilian comics have in recent years opened up to internet platforms, a change that has proved... more
This article looks at the intersection of web-based comics and print graphic memoirs authored by transgender Brazilian comics artists. Brazilian comics have in recent years opened up to internet platforms, a change that has proved particularly fruitful for LGBTQ+ artists, traditionally marginalised by the Brazilian comics industry. The article examines two case studies – those of Luiza Lemos and Alice Pereira, both authors of comics originally posted on social media and later published in print. By means of a mixed methodology that brings together semi-structured interviews with the authors and close readings, this contribution investigates the dynamics regulating the creative and publishing processes of these works, as well as the relationship that they entertain with the practice of transsexual self-narration and self-portraiture.
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This article looks at the intersection of web-based comics and print graphic memoirs authored by transgender Brazilian comics artists. Brazilian comics have in recent years opened up to internet platforms, a change that has proved... more
This article looks at the intersection of web-based comics and print graphic memoirs authored by transgender Brazilian comics artists. Brazilian comics have in recent years opened up to internet platforms, a change that has proved particularly fruitful for LGBTQ+ artists, traditionally marginalised by the Brazilian comics industry. The article examines two case studies – those of Luiza Lemos and Alice Pereira, both authors of comics originally posted on social media and later published in print. By means of a mixed methodology that brings together semi-structured interviews with the authors and close readings, this contribution investigates the dynamics regulating the creative and publishing processes of these works, as well as the relationship that they entertain with the practice of transsexual self-narration and self-portraiture.
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Co-organisation et présidence du panel "Quand la bande dessinée se reproduit : imitation, reprise et rétro-réflexivité" – Dans une industrie culturelle basée sur les principes de série et d’imitation, les questions de... more
Co-organisation et présidence du panel "Quand la bande dessinée se reproduit : imitation, reprise et rétro-réflexivité" – Dans une industrie culturelle basée sur les principes de série et d’imitation, les questions de reproduction occupent une place toute particulière, illustrée par ce terme spécifique de swipe utilisé dans l’industrie du comic book. L’imitation s’est instituée comme principe éditorial autant dans la bande dessinée nord-américaine que dans la bande dessinée franco-belge : le style graphique se constitue ainsi souvent par imitation et reproduction, comme le montre l’exemple de l’émulation des styles ‘singuliers’ d’artistes tels que Jack Kirby ou André Franquin. Les rééditions des œuvres du passé tout comme les reprises de série classique s’épanouissent aujourd’hui et, simultanément, la bande dessinée s’empare de plus en plus de son propre passé, invoquant les connaissances encyclopédiques de ses lecteurs et s’engageant dans une forme de « rétro-réflexivité » (Brett Camper). Ces pratiques de reproduction par imitation indiquent différentes manières de penser la mise-à-disposition du passé dans le présent. Elles négocient ainsi de façon spécifique et historique le rapport à la reproductibilité en bande dessinée, par le biais de diverses techniques (recopiage, décalquage, collage, dessin, détournement, réinterprétation graphique, photocopie, clins d’œil, copier/coller, etc.) : à chaque fois, elles semblent alors interroger le rapport entre dessin et reproduction, que celle-ci soit manuelle, mécanique ou numérique. Cette session portera sur la prégnance de la reproduction par imitation dans la bande dessinée afin d’en examiner les enjeux culturels et esthétiques qui la lient à son passé et à son histoire. Comment la bande dessinée se reproduit-elle elle-même ? Quelles sont les pratiques de citation qui lui sont propres ? Comment ce rapport au passé a-t-il changé
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This contribution investigates a specific subcategory of digital comics -- part of what I call 'expanded digital comics' - considered by many to be inherently more interactive than prototypical comics, and often related to video games.... more
This contribution investigates a specific subcategory of digital comics -- part of what I call 'expanded digital comics' - considered by many to be inherently more interactive than prototypical comics, and often related to video games. However, whether they are indeed more interactive, and what it means for a comic to be interactive at all, is an open question. Trough a reframing of the concept of interactivity as one of the possible subtypes of agency (narrative, interpretative, material and social) that a semiotic text allows for, this contribution will survey and discuss a selection of ostensibly interactive digital comics, interrogating the types and degrees of interaction they establish and reflecting on the specificities of their meaning-making processes.
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Questo articolo si concentra sui meccanismi nostalgici nel fumetto contemporaneo, rintracciando una serie di caratteristiche tematiche, stilistiche e strutturali che, anche grazie alla natura costitutivamente incompleta e interattiva... more
Questo articolo si concentra sui meccanismi nostalgici nel fumetto contemporaneo, rintracciando una serie di caratteristiche tematiche, stilistiche e strutturali che, anche grazie alla natura costitutivamente incompleta e interattiva della narrazione a fumetti, concorrono a dar vita a un effetto nostalgico. In primo luogo, quindi, l’articolo indaga le caratteristiche medium-specifiche del fumetto viste nella loro versione “debole”, cioè come affordances prototipiche di un determinato medium. In secondo luogo, si individuano una serie di procedimenti ed effetti di senso non dissimili da quelli individuabili su altri media, secondo specifiche tematiche, stilistiche e strutturali che si influenzano e rafforzano a vicenda nelle narrazioni nostalgiche a fumetti. Così facendo, si vuole rendere conto, attraverso l'esempio di un medium specifico, dell’estetica nostalgica che connota una parte significativa della produzione artistica contemporanea.
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Nostalgia is a recurring word in both mainstream and academic discourses about comics. The contours and specific features of this allure, though, often remain undefined: what do we mean, exactly, when we say a graphic novel is... more
Nostalgia is a recurring word in both mainstream and academic discourses about comics. The contours and specific features of this allure, though, often remain undefined: what do we mean, exactly, when we say a graphic novel is nostalgic?
By performing a close reading of Seth’s It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken (1996), my contribution aims to build a critical framework that explores different levels (structure, motifs, and style), allowing to more clearly understand what constitutes the nostalgic aura of a given text: structural specifics, such as the role of the main character in orienting the reader towards a nostalgic reception of one text, the use of intertextual references and the re-use of genre plots; thematic elements, dealing with the time’s arrow and/or with longing for home; and stylistic features, mimicking and recalling a specific trait of the past or prompting to convey a general sense of pastness.
By performing a close reading of Seth’s It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken (1996), my contribution aims to build a critical framework that explores different levels (structure, motifs, and style), allowing to more clearly understand what constitutes the nostalgic aura of a given text: structural specifics, such as the role of the main character in orienting the reader towards a nostalgic reception of one text, the use of intertextual references and the re-use of genre plots; thematic elements, dealing with the time’s arrow and/or with longing for home; and stylistic features, mimicking and recalling a specific trait of the past or prompting to convey a general sense of pastness.
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Il presente volume e tutti i contributi sono rilasciati sotto licenza Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International license (CC-BY-SA 4.0). Ogni altro diritto rimane in capo ai singoli autori. This volume and all... more
Il presente volume e tutti i contributi sono rilasciati sotto licenza Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International license (CC-BY-SA 4.0). Ogni altro diritto rimane in capo ai singoli autori. This volume and all contributions are released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International license (CC-BY-SA 4.0). All other rights retained by the legal owners.
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This chapter provides an overview of the variety of contemporary digital comics. Digital comics encompass diverse objects, both online and offline, ranging from print comics that are digitized to webcomics that resist print publications... more
This chapter provides an overview of the variety of contemporary digital comics. Digital comics encompass diverse objects, both online and offline, ranging from print comics that are digitized to webcomics that resist print publications and have greater affinities with video games or animation. The chapter regroups these different formats into three main categories; it reconstructs the history of digital comics, isolating four partially overlapping phases connected to the evolution of digital culture. It traces the similarities and divergences between digital and print comics, identifying their formal specificities and contextualizing them in the analog/digital debate; and discusses their different characteristics in terms of immersion and agency. Finally, it reflects on the relationship between digital media and participatory practices on the one hand, and comics preservation on the other, elaborating on the issue of copyright infringement. In doing so, the chapter offers a multidisciplinary and comprehensive account of the heterogeneous nature and stratified history of digital comics.
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Fandom activities and practices are a complex machine driven by fan participation and capacity of intercepting the relationships between media production and consumption, thus influencing the productive logics of cultural industry. In... more
Fandom activities and practices are a complex machine driven by fan participation and capacity of intercepting the relationships between media production and consumption, thus influencing the productive logics of cultural industry. In order to better understand some of the evolutions that fandom has recently undergone, this contribution intends to investigate the phenomenon in relation to the Dylan Dog franchise. Cult hailed by critics, Dylan Dog has been a momentous comic series, able to uniquely resonate and answer to the desires and identity needs of its audience (Frezza 1995, 2017). One key reason for its prolonged success and commercial fortune lies in its capacity to build a thick network of cinematic and literary references (to quote Eco, an encyclopedia: 1979) that the readers have to actualize, thus becoming themselves active devices of the texts (Abruzzese 2016). This in turn has encouraged, and been mirrored by, a series of fan practices taking part throughout the years. The intense relationship Dylan Dog entertains with his fans has transformed over time in line with the evolutions of the media system and their aging. Its fandom changed from niche communities with a strong internal homology (mainly composed of young horror fans) to expanded ones, whose fan practices, especially online, were markedly heterogeneous. Recchioni's arrival at the helm of the magazine was the fuse that exploded through dynamics typical of the social web such as echo chambers, filter bubbles and polarized debates (Bentivegna, Boccia Artieri 2019) - (insoluble?) tensions between older and newer generations, earlier and more recent fans. This contribution wants to draw a comparison between the first fan experiences (Horror post and Dylan Dog Horror Fest) and contemporary ones taking place on the internet (forums, fanpages, and fanfilms), foregrounding the networks of cultural practices that are shaping fandom following or crossing generational divides.
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Questo numero speciale di Scritture migranti (16/2022) intende esplorare la rappresentazione delle narrazioni della migrazione nel medium del fumetto. Il fumetto si è distinto, negli ultimi trent’anni, come mezzo espressivo versatile,... more
Questo numero speciale di Scritture migranti (16/2022) intende esplorare la rappresentazione delle narrazioni della migrazione nel medium del fumetto. Il fumetto si è distinto, negli ultimi trent’anni, come mezzo espressivo versatile, capace di raccontare e rappresentare con grande pregnanza vari aspetti della contemporaneità, tra cui la complessità che caratterizza i fenomeni migratori. I contributi inclusi in questo numero speciale muovono da contesti diversi per indagare come diverse narrazioni della migrazione siano veicolate in forma di fumetto, come il materiale d’indagine e le testimonianze vengano raccolti e come il risultato venga narrativizzato nell’opera finale. I saggi conversano tra loro attraverso una serie di approcci analitici provenienti da prospettive disciplinari che si intersecano e si completano, esplorando le varie narrazioni della migrazione in opere contemporanee provenienti da diverse tradizioni fumettistiche e contesti culturali. Essi mettono a fuoco i presupposti che hanno determinato tali migrazioni, analizzano storie di geografie vicine e lontane e abbracciano territori che vanno dal Sudest asiatico al continente americano, passando per l’Europa. Così facendo, questo numero tematico costruisce una rete di indagini diverse che tracciano nuove traiettorie per ulteriori ricerche sull’intersezione tra fumetto e migrazione.
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After several years of an almost exclusively male presence, the Italian graphic novel scene has finally opened to a multitude of creative female voices with multi-faceted works spanning from autobiographical themes to graphic science and... more
After several years of an almost exclusively male presence, the Italian graphic novel scene has finally opened to a multitude of creative female voices with multi-faceted works spanning from autobiographical themes to graphic science and beyond. Conditioned by the existential precariousness of the context in which they live and work, their production also reflects on their sentimental and sexual lives, both staging new, fluid relationships and trying to find an alternative perspective to the much-discussed male gaze. This contribution aims to discuss the role played by women graphic novelists in portraying the gendered dimension of emotional precariousness in a historical period (the 2000s) and a societal context (Italy) in which pervasive financial, geographical and identity insecurities, coupled with a persistent sexist culture, push female subjectivities to deconstruct both the patriarchal grand narrative of romantic love and the radical feminist myth of sexual liberation. Reading the graphic novels La giusta mezura (2018) by Flavia Biondi, Non so chi sei (2017) by Cristina Portolano, and Ti chiamo domani (2019) by Rita Petruccioli through a gender studies theoretical framework, this article will investigate the creative strategies adopted to represent the challenges and the opportunities that flexibility poses to female relationality and desire.
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My project deals with the aesthetics of nostalgia in a corpus of graphic novels. It starts by investigating the critical framework regarding nostalgia, which I analyze from a historical, psychological, philosophical and sociological... more
My project deals with the aesthetics of nostalgia in a corpus of graphic novels. It starts by investigating the critical framework regarding nostalgia, which I analyze from a historical, psychological, philosophical and sociological perspective, giving particular attention to the implications it has for present times. It goes on to apply media-driven approaches about nostalgia to comic studies, trying to build a typology of the ways nostalgia may be seen as a two-phased, interactive articulation of comic production (of which I highlight motifs, style and structure) and reception (which I regrouped under the labels of readers, fans and collectors). Finally, I proceed to some close readings of key primary texts (graphic novels) to test my hypothesis in practice and draw my conclusions.
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Reseña de: DI PAOLA, L., L’inafferrabile medium. Una cartografia delle teorie del fumetto dagli anni Venti a oggi, Napoli, Alessandro Polidoro editore, 2019.
Digital comics halfway between experimentation and participation: the example of Homestuck. Digital comics that try to maximize the affordances of their medium seem to be condemned to in-betweenness: their strength (leveraging on unusual... more
Digital comics halfway between experimentation and participation: the example of Homestuck. Digital comics that try to maximize the affordances of their medium seem to be condemned to in-betweenness: their strength (leveraging on unusual narrative potentials) often becomes their limit, and authors are hardly able to free themselves from the role of niche experimenters and open up to audience participation. A significant exception, however, is Homestuck, a gigantic webcomic by Andrew Hussie. Strongly connected to videogame culture and the very nature of the internet, Homestuck features animations, sounds, embedded flash games, and so on. The webcomic resulted in various transmedial branches (a videogame spin-off and several friendsims, a multi-volume soundtrack, a book epilogue) and an ongoing intermedial adaptation in book format. It has equally managed, over the years, to consolidate an extremely lively community active both in its interactions with the author (with a constant exchange of ideas and an endless readiness to subsidize his projects), in its interpretation of the canon production, and in providing an amazing extent of fan production. This contribution aims to analyze Homestuck as a possible mediation between the two inclinations (experimental and participated) of digital comics. Introduzione Leggendo certa critica (accademica e non), il fumetto digitale pare godere di una sorta di eterna giovinezza: un medium eternamente potenziale, eternamente nuovo, eternamente sul punto di soppiantare la carta. Eppure, dopo un quarto di secolo, il pieno successo di pubblico sembra arridere soltanto ai fumetti digitalizzati (in primis sotto forma di scanlation, manga scansionati e tradotti) o a quelli che replicano il formato della tavola o della strip (basta pensare alla rockstar del fumetto italiano degli ultimi dieci anni, Zerocalcare), capaci di aggregare comunità di appassionati che sono spesso una fonte diretta di sostentamento per gli artisti, attraverso piattaforme di crowdfunding come Patreon o Kickstarter. I fumetti digitali che tentano di massimizzare le possibilità offerte dal medium, invece, sembrano essere relegati nello stesso limbo che è toccato all'e-literature: la loro forza (fare leva su potenzialità narrative molteplici e inconsuete) sembra essere anche il loro limite, sia in termini di possibilità narrative offerte dal medium che come ricadute sulla capacità di attrarre e fidelizzare un pubblico più
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Shaun Tan’s The Arrival is the surreal wordless tale of a migrant coming to a new and unfamiliar land. It is a graphic novel drawn in sepia tones, that displays a fantastic universe full of imaginary animals, retro-futuristic machineries,... more
Shaun Tan’s The Arrival is the surreal wordless tale of a migrant coming to a new and unfamiliar land. It is a graphic novel drawn in sepia tones, that displays a fantastic universe full of imaginary animals, retro-futuristic machineries, and a ubiquitous, unintelligible language. Comments on the work, which enjoyed a large critical and commercial success, notably praised the nostalgic allure of its richly detailed pencil drawings, the author’s vivid imagination and the self-proclaimed ‘universal’ appeal of the tale recounted. This essay uses The Arrival as a case study to investigate how graphic novels can achieve a nostalgic effect, not only through the use of thematic elements, but also thanks to structural and stylistic features. It does so by examining the relation between nostalgia and migration; then, through an investigation of the style, structure and motifs exhibited by Tan’s text, it discusses the strategies it adopts to prompt in its reader a nostalgic reaction; it explores its sense of pastness; it reflects on the symbolic value of Tan’s visual imaginary, full of intertextual references mostly orbiting around the migration theme; finally, it questions the purported universality of Tan’s story.
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Ghost World (1997) is a graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. Two teenage girls, having ended high school, confront with the passage to adult life in a spectral American suburbia scattered with non-places: diners, shopping malls, vinyl and... more
Ghost World (1997) is a graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. Two teenage girls, having ended high school, confront with the passage to adult life in a spectral American suburbia scattered with non-places: diners, shopping malls, vinyl and comic stores. From their own bedrooms, the two spend their time cynically commenting the fatuity of US pop culture, trapped between a haunting past and an uncertain future. This contribution intends to discuss space in Ghost World from three main perspectives, concerning the material book, the visual level (page layout, framing, colors) and the diegetical one (investigating spaces inside the story).
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The aim of this article is to contextualize some recent literary works from the United States which present a hybridized, oxymoronic configuration, whose characteristics are very close to those of the canon of magical realist texts. In... more
The aim of this article is to contextualize some recent literary works from the United
States which present a hybridized, oxymoronic configuration, whose characteristics
are very close to those of the canon of magical realist texts.
In order to conduct this analysis, it will be necessary to retrace the history of the concept,
to understand its aims and limits and isolate the different types that follow from
such an evolution. It will be important to posit a poetics of the mode and provide a
survey of critical literature in order to define a functional typology, casting some light
on a concept frequently accused of being obscure.
Magical realism is not new, in fact, to a certain critical confusion, which is largely due
to its heterogeneous development and too often remains unexamined when addressing
the mode. Hence all the complaints, from the infamous consideration by Rodriguez
Monegal, lamenting, on the occasion of the first international convention on the matter,
a “dialogo de sordos” (dialogue of the deaf) to the assumption that “[d]efinitions and
theories, be they traditional or recent, are confusingly contradictory” (Bortolussi 280).
Once the methodological framework has been clarified, we will concentrate on what
we believe to be a peculiar North American branch of magical realism, introducing authors
associated with the concept and focusing in particular on the work of Aimee
Bender.
States which present a hybridized, oxymoronic configuration, whose characteristics
are very close to those of the canon of magical realist texts.
In order to conduct this analysis, it will be necessary to retrace the history of the concept,
to understand its aims and limits and isolate the different types that follow from
such an evolution. It will be important to posit a poetics of the mode and provide a
survey of critical literature in order to define a functional typology, casting some light
on a concept frequently accused of being obscure.
Magical realism is not new, in fact, to a certain critical confusion, which is largely due
to its heterogeneous development and too often remains unexamined when addressing
the mode. Hence all the complaints, from the infamous consideration by Rodriguez
Monegal, lamenting, on the occasion of the first international convention on the matter,
a “dialogo de sordos” (dialogue of the deaf) to the assumption that “[d]efinitions and
theories, be they traditional or recent, are confusingly contradictory” (Bortolussi 280).
Once the methodological framework has been clarified, we will concentrate on what
we believe to be a peculiar North American branch of magical realism, introducing authors
associated with the concept and focusing in particular on the work of Aimee
Bender.
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Il contributo analizza i romanzi Galápagos (1985) di Kurt Vonnegut, Terra! (1983) di Stefano Benni, e il primo volume (1979) della Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy di Douglas Adams, come punto d’incontro ed espressione di una serie di... more
Il contributo analizza i romanzi Galápagos (1985) di Kurt Vonnegut, Terra! (1983) di Stefano Benni, e il primo volume (1979) della Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy di Douglas Adams, come punto d’incontro ed espressione di una serie di istanze sociali: sfiducia nel progresso tecnologico, antimilitarismo, ecologismo, messa in questione dell’antropocentrismo. Si cerca di contestualizzare questi temi alla luce dello sfondo storico; si analizza, infine, come il progetto di queste opere venga portato avanti attraverso lo strumento peculiare dello humour e le pratiche artistiche proprie della sensibilità postmoderna.
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
È con grande entusiasmo che annunciamo l’apertura della call per la partecipazione alla Summer School promossa dall'AIPI intitolata "Ricerca a fumetti: generi, forme, declinazioni", che si terrà all'Universiteit Gent dal 12 al 15 luglio... more
È con grande entusiasmo che annunciamo l’apertura della call per la partecipazione alla Summer School promossa dall'AIPI intitolata "Ricerca a fumetti: generi, forme, declinazioni", che si terrà all'Universiteit Gent dal 12 al 15 luglio 2021. Tutte le informazioni in merito (il programma, il bando e il form da compilare per partecipare) sono consultabili al sito della Scuola: https://www.ricercaafumetti.ugent.be/. La call, che oggi prende il via, resterà aperta fino all’1 maggio 2021.
Research Interests:
The dedicated Wikipedia page describes Andrew Hussie’s Homestuck as centering “on a group of teenagers who unwittingly bring about the end of the world through the installation of a beta copy of an upcoming computer game. The comic... more
The dedicated Wikipedia page describes Andrew Hussie’s Homestuck as centering “on a group of teenagers who unwittingly bring about the end of the world through the installation of a beta copy of an upcoming computer game. The comic consists of a combination of static images, animated GIFs and instant message logs, as well as animations and games made with Adobe Flash. It has been noted for its complex plot and considerable length: over 8000 pages and 800,000 words”.
This short outline should already explain what makes Homestuck such a stimulating subject. My contribution will hence try to condensate, untangle and discuss its key aspects: its reliance on the hybrid mediality that characterizes digital comics, which puts it at the crossroad between traditional comics and videogames – and hypertext fiction; its length and the depth of its plot, which have met the interest of a most passionate and active fan community, offering a very interesting example of participatory culture; its origin in, and connection to, geek culture, which keeps everything together through a process that I propose to call retro-remediation, drawing from both the aesthetics and the mechanisms of old adventure games; and its book adaptation, published from 2018 to present.
This short outline should already explain what makes Homestuck such a stimulating subject. My contribution will hence try to condensate, untangle and discuss its key aspects: its reliance on the hybrid mediality that characterizes digital comics, which puts it at the crossroad between traditional comics and videogames – and hypertext fiction; its length and the depth of its plot, which have met the interest of a most passionate and active fan community, offering a very interesting example of participatory culture; its origin in, and connection to, geek culture, which keeps everything together through a process that I propose to call retro-remediation, drawing from both the aesthetics and the mechanisms of old adventure games; and its book adaptation, published from 2018 to present.