FREN 018. Manga, Bande Dessinée, and the Graphic Novel: A Transnational Study of Graphic Fictions

(Cross-listed as LITR 018FJ, JPNS 018)
This course provides an introduction to the study of three of the most important contemporary graphic literary forms - manga, bandes dessinées, and the graphic novel - and the national and transnational traditions with which they have become associated. Through a careful study of major artists and key works from Japan and the Francophone world, we explore the particular histories, aesthetic evolutions, and social impact of these sequential art forms, both in their specific places of origin and across the globe. We consider how these graphic fictions have managed to mirror and refract major issues of historical trauma, technology and violence, as well as how they question representations of gender, class, race and ethnicity, even as they wield a form of “soft power.” The transnational impact that some works have played will also be explored through a comparative analysis of local and global dissemination, transnational fan communities, non-Japanese-language manga, and transindustrial exchanges. Texts and discussions in English. Students with knowledge of French and/or Japanese may read the works in the original. There is a 0.5 credit French Attachment for students reading in French (FREN 018A).
Humanities
1 credit.
Catalog chapter: Modern Languages and Literatures: French and Francophone Studies
Department website: http://swarthmore.edu/french-francophone-studies

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