Word and Image: Ekphrasis , the Iconic Narrative, and the Graphic Novel

An examination of the tradition of illustrated narratives from the pre-modern to the modern periods: the ancient Indian epic the Ramayana , the early eleventh-century Japanese Genji Monogatari , the medieval English Canterbury Tales , the late eighteenth century Marriage of Heaven and Hell , as well as the contemporary graphic novel Persepolis and examples of Japanese manga . Discussion will focus on the nature of iconography and symbolism; the historical privileging of text over image; the significance of parallel visual and verbal representation and its implications for culturally-specific theories of reading. Instructor permission required.