everything.study
WGS.492

Popular Culture and Narrative: Literature, Comics, and Culture

Undergraduate · Historical course

Fall 2010

In this course, we will investigate popular culture and narrative by focusing on the relationship between literary texts and comics. Several questions shape the syllabus and provide a framework for approaching the course materials: How do familiar aspects of comics trace their origins to literary texts and broader cultural concerns? How have classic comics gone on to influence literary fiction? In what ways do contemporary graphic narratives bring a new kind of seriousness of purpose to comics, blurring what's left of the boundaries between the highbrow and the lowbrow? Readings and materials for the course range from the nineteenth century to the present, and include novels, short stories, essays, older and newer comics, and some older and newer films. Expectations include diligent reading, active participation, occasional discussion leading, and two papers.

Readings

  • Burroughs, Edgar R. Tarzan of the Apes . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780199542888.
    Listed reading
  • Rosenberg, Yudl. The Golem and the Wondrous Deeds of the Maharal of Prague . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780300143201.
    Listed reading
  • Chabon, Michael. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay . New York, NY: Picador, 2001. ISBN: 9780312282998.
    Listed reading
  • Schulz, Charles M. The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952 . Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics, 2004. ISBN: 9781560975892.
    Listed reading
  • Clowes, Daniel. Ghost World . Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics, 2001. ISBN: 9781560974277.
    Listed reading
  • Sturm, James. James Sturm’s America: God, Gold, and Golems . Montreal, Canada: Drawn and Quarterly, 2007. ISBN: 9781897299050.
    Listed reading
  • Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis . New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 2007. ISBN: 9780375714832.
    Listed reading
  • Friedrich, Nietzsche. A Nietzsche Reader . New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1978, pp. 232-248. ISBN: 9780140443295.
    Listed reading
  • Siegel, J., and J. Shuster. “The Reign of the Super-Man.” Science Fiction: The Vanguard of Future Civilization 1, no. 3 (January 1933): 1-8.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Superman Weeklies , 1939.
    Listed reading
  • ———. “Action Comics.” In The Superman Chronicles. Vol. I. New York, NY: DC Comics, 2006, pp. 3-30.
    Listed reading
  • ———. “Superman.” In Superman in the Forties . New York, NY: DC Comics, 2005, pp. 195-196. ISBN: 9781401204570.
    Listed reading
  • Lee, S., and J. Kirby. “The Fantastic Four.” In Origins of Marvel Comics . New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1974, pp. 20-44.
    Listed reading
  • ———. “The Incredible Hulk.” In Origins of Marvel Comics . New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1962, pp. 80-103.
    Listed reading
  • Siegel, J., and J. Shuster. “How Superman Would End the War.” Look Magazine , February 27, 1940.
    Listed reading
  • Marston, W. M., and H. G. Peter. “Wonder Woman.” DC Comics , no. 1 (1942): 54-66.
    Listed reading
  • Wertham, F. Excerpt from Seduction of the Innocent .
    Listed reading
  • Simon, J., and J. Kirby. “Meet Captain America.” Marvel Masterworks , no. 1 (1941): 1-8.
    Listed reading
  • ———. “Captain America and the Riddle of the Red Skull.” Marvel Masterworks , no. 1 (2005): 37-49.
    Listed reading
Sources