The Trauma Graphic Novel

190 Pages·2017·1.215 MB·English

by  Andrés Romero-Jódar

The Trauma Graphic Novel
The end of the twentieth century and the turn of the new millennium
witnessed an unprecedented flood of traumatic narratives and testi-
monies of suffering in literature and the arts. Graphic novels, free at
last from long decades of stern censorship, helped explore these top-
ics by developing a new subgenre: the trauma graphic novel. This book
seeks to analyze this trend through the consideration of five influential
graphic novels in English. Works by Paul Hornschemeier, Joe Sacco, Art
Spiegelman, and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons will be considered as
illustrative examples of the representation of individual, collective, and
political traumas. This book provides a link between the contemporary
criticism of Trauma Studies and the increasingly important world of
comic books and graphic novels.
Andrés Romero-Jódar is an Independent Scholar.
Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com.
94 The Creative Underground
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Paul Clements
95 Subjectivity across Media
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96 The Rise of Transtexts
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97 Explorations in Critical Studies of Advertising
Edited by James F. Hamilton, Robert Bodle, and Ezequiel Korin
98 Popular Culture and the Austerity Myth
Hard Times Today
Edited by Pete Bennett and Julian McDougall
99 Historicising Transmedia Storytelling
Early Twentieth-Century Transmedia Story Worlds
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100 LGBTQs, Media and Culture in Europe
Edited by Alexander Dhoest, Lukasz Szulc, and Bart Eeckhout
101 Matrix Activism
Global Practices of Resistance
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102 Materializing Memory in Art and Popular Culture
Edited by László Munteán, Liedeke Plate, and Anneke Smelik
103 The Trauma Graphic Novel
Andrés Romero-Jódar
The Trauma Graphic Novel
Andrés Romero-Jódar
First published 2017
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2017 Taylor & Francis
The right of Andrés Romero-Jódar to be identified as author
of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Romero-Jódar, Andrés, author.
Title: The trauma graphic novel / by Andrés Romero-Jódar.
Description: New York: Routledge, 2017. |
Series: Routledge research in cultural and media studies |
Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016044972
Subjects: LCSH: Graphic novels—History and criticism. |
Comic books, strips, etc.—History and criticism. |
Psychic trauma in literature. | Social conflict in literature.
Classification: LCC PN6714 .R66 2017 | DDC 741.5/9—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016044972
ISBN: 978-1-138-23888-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-29661-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
In loving memory of
María Dolores Jódar Vidal
(1952–2000)
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Through Traumatized Eyes: Trauma and Visual
Stream-of-Consciousness Techniques in Paul
Hornschemeier’s Mother, Come Home 35
2 Joe Sacco’s Documentary Graphic Novels Palestine
and Footnotes in Gaza: The Thin Line Between
Trauma and Propaganda 71
3 From “Maus” to MetaMaus: Art Spiegelman’s
Constellation of Holocaust Textimonies 102
4 Greek Romance, Alternative History, and Political
Trauma in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen 141
Conclusion 165
Index 175
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Acknowledgements
The writing of any book always engages the author in an ostensibly long
process through which he or she will receive the influence not only of
the many inspiring printed sources, but also of an immense community
of people who, knowingly or not, will support, reorient, inspire, and
transform the author’s Weltanschauung. In my own journey through the
composition of the following pages, I have had the enormous fortune of
encountering exceptionally intelligent and inspiring road companions.
With them I may have shared either long hours of conversation and ad-
vice sitting in an office, or maybe a small remark at the edge of a buffet
table during a conference break. Certainly, they all have left their indeli-
ble print on the final manuscript, and to all of them, whose names would
create too long a list, I am deeply thankful.
There are, nonetheless, some persons to whom I would like to express
my individual gratitude. First and foremost, I would like to thank Pro-
fessor Dr Susana Onega Jaén for her invaluable help and courageous
support. A good share of the research presented here was carried out
under her supervision and guidance. I hope that, at least, a small part of
her wise advice may have been kept and reflected in the following pages.
Financial support was partly granted by a scholarship from the Spanish
Ministry of Science, to which I am greatly thankful, as it also allowed
me to become a member of Professor Onega’s research team, “Contem-
porary Narrative in English,” at the Department of English and German
Philology of the University of Zaragoza (Spain). To all the members of
this group I would like to express my gratitude, with special mention to
Dr Sonia Baelo-Allué and Dr Constanza del Río, who became unknow-
ing readers of the earliest draft of this book. Similarly, I am extremely
grateful to Professor Dr Jean-Michel Ganteau (Université Paul Valéry,
Montpellier 3), Professor Dr Martin Middekke (Universität Augsburg),
Dr Nathan Wiseman-Trowse (University of Northampton), Dr Michael
Starr (University of Northampton), Dr Gerd Bayer (Friedrich- Alexander-
Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg), and Dr Alfredo Saldaña Sagredo
(University of Zaragoza), who read and provided invaluable feedback at
the embryonic stages of this project.