Category: craig thompson

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Narrative Construction in Art Spiegelman’s “Maus”

One thing that I really enjoy about graphic memoirs is the metanarrative nature of the medium. When reading a prose autobiography, the author typically does not draw attention to the compositional aspects of the text. For example, with Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, we know that he writes to his son; however, he does not refer to the writing of the text or the way he … Read More Narrative Construction in Art Spiegelman’s “Maus”

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Dream and Reality in Craig Thompson’s “Blankets”

Over the course of this semester, one of the recurring discussions in the graphic memoirs class has been about the ways that these texts approach memory and the past. I’ve written about this already with Kristen Radtke’s Imagine Wanting Only This where I discuss Radtke’s movement back and forth between specific scenes in the text. In this post, I want to look at this … Read More Dream and Reality in Craig Thompson’s “Blankets”

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Panel Structure in Craig Thompson’s “Blankets”

In “The Beautiful Ambiguity of Blankets: Comics Representation and Religious Art,” Benjamin Stevens writes about the religious symbolism and metanarrative aspects of Craig Thompson’s Blankets. Early in his essay, Stevens discusses Thompson’s use of panels, the absence, in spots, of borders, and other aspects that draw attention to Blankets as a graphic memoir working within the language of the genre. Stevens points out that … Read More Panel Structure in Craig Thompson’s “Blankets”

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Literature and Composition Graphic Memoirs Syllabus

This semester, I am teaching a literature and composition course. It has been a few years since I have taught a course like this, and this semester, I am approaching it a little bit differently. I have taught graphic nrratives in my courses before, but I have not used them exclusively. After hearing from a colleague who has done something similar, I thought I … Read More Literature and Composition Graphic Memoirs Syllabus