A complete guide to the history, form and contexts of the genre, Autobiographical Comicshelps readers explore the increasingly popular genre of graphic life writing. In an accessible and easy-to-navigate format, the book covers such topics as:
- The history and rise of autobiographical comics
- Cultural contexts
- Key texts – including Maus, Robert Crumb, Persepolis, Fun Home, and American Splendor
- Important theoretical and critical approaches to autobiographical comics
Autobiographical Comics includes a glossary of crucial critical terms, annotated guides to further reading and online resources and discussion questions to help students and readers develop their understanding of the genre and pursue independent study.
Table of Contents
Series Editor’s Preface (vii)
List of Figures (viii)
Acknowledgements (ix)
1. Introduction: What Are Autobiographical Comics? (1)
– The centrality of autobiography (1)
– The study of autobiography (5)
– What is an autobiographical comic? (10)
– This book and how to use it (15)
2. The History of Autobiographical Comics (21)
– Early examples: Proto-autobiographical comics (22)
– Underground comix (32)
– Post-underground and the rise of Pekar and Spiegelman (42)
– Alternative Comics and second wave autobiography (46)
– Twenty-first-century autobiography (52)
3. Critical Questions (59)
– Autobiographical comics and autobiographical theory (59)
– The autobiographical pact and the problem of first person narration (61)
– Violating the autobiographical pact (66)
– The problem of authenticity (70)
– Photography in autobiographical comics (72)
– The mise en abyme (75)
– Teaching autobiographical comics (79)
4. Social and Cultural Impact (83)
– Trauma (83)
– Adolescence (93)
– The quotidian and the confessional (99)
– Gender and sexuality (105)
– Race and ethnicity (114)
– Graphic medicine (121)
– Censorship and controversy (130)
– Self-publishing and web comics (133)
5. Key Texts (151)
– Justin Green, Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary (151)
– Robert Crumb and Aline Kominsky-Crumb (157)
– Harvey Pekar, et al, American Splendor (163)
– Keiji Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima (170)
– Art Spiegelman, Maus and In the Shadow of No Towers (174)
– Phoebe Gloeckner, A Child’s Life and The Diary of a Teenage Girl (182)
– Joe Matt, Chester Brown, and Seth (187)
– Lynda Barry, One Hundred Demons (194)
– Craig Thompson, Blankets (197)
– Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis (201)
– Alison Bechdel, Fun Home (205)
Appendix 1: Panel Discussion—Comics and Autobiography (217)
Appendix 2: Interview with Jennifer Hayden (229)
Appendix 3: “Everybody Gets It Wrong”—David Chelsea (245)
Appendix 4: Autobiographical Conversations—Ryan Claytor (249)
Glossary (255)
Resources (261)
Index (279)
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