Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography Series

Graphic Subjects

Published 1 January 2011

Some of the most noteworthy graphic novels and comic books of recent years have been entirely autobiographical. In Graphic Subjects, Michael A. Chaney brings together a lively mix of scholars to examine the use of autobiography within graphic novels, including such critically acclaimed examples as Art Spiegelman's Maus, David Beauchard's Epileptic, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, Alan Moore's Watchmen, and Gene Yang's American Born Chinese. These essays, accompanied by visual examples, illuminate the new horizons that illustrated autobiographical narrative creates. The volume insightfully highlights the ways that graphic novelists and literary cartoonists have incorporated history, experience, and life stories into their work. The result is a challenging and innovative collection that reveals the combined power of autobiography and the graphic novel. ""A fascinating volume that makes a distinguished contribution to not one but two burgeoning fields of scholarly inquiry. The contributors make skillful use of literary theories, case studies, and personal histories to investigate the distinctive way that comics present and shape auto-biographical narratives and discourses.""--Kent Worcester, coeditor of A Comics Studies Reader and Arguing Comics.