Category: memory
The Memory Beneath Our Feet
A couple of weeks ago I received my copy of Box of Bones, a project created by Ayize Jama Everett and John Jennings. Book one contains five stories, each written and illustrated by different artists. The overarching connective tissue within Box of Bones is Lindsay Ford, a PhD student in Folklore/African American Studies at UC Berkeley. Ford’s work centers on the Box of Bones, … Read More The Memory Beneath Our Feet

+ blankets, craig thompson, graphic memoir, graphic novels, imagine wanting only this, kristen radtke, memory
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”

+ benjamin stevens, blankets, comics, craig thompson, graphic memoir, graphic novels, memory, scott mccloud
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”

+ alabama, cary norton, cherokee, creek, hernando de soto, imagine wanting only this, jared ragland, kristen radtke, memory, photographs, where you come from is gone
The Foundations Under Our Feet
Driving through the North Georgia mountains a few weeks ago, I kept passing abandoned wooden buildings. At one point, I passed a newer house with a brick chimney, which appeared to be part of a previous building, in the driveway. Rolling fields and distant mountains peaks stretched behind these structures. As I drove, I recalled Kristen Radtke’s Imagine Wanting Only This and the ways … Read More The Foundations Under Our Feet

+ graphic memoir, graphic novels, graphic travelogue, history, holocaust, Jérémie Dres, memory, polish jews, warsaw, poland, We Won't See Auschwitz
Structuring and Rectifying the Past in Jérémie Dres’ “We Won’t See Auschwitz”
This semester, I taught Jérémie Dres’ We Won’t See Auschwitz. I read Dres’ book last year in Norway, after I visited Warsaw, and it made me think about various things, mainly about the ways that we remember and construct the past. This is one of the recurring themes in the books that we are reading this semester, and it is one of the main … Read More Structuring and Rectifying the Past in Jérémie Dres’ “We Won’t See Auschwitz”