War Comics: A Postcolonial Perspective

233 Pages·2020·12.695 MB·English

by  Jeanne-Marie Viljoen

War Comics
This book focuses on non-fictional, visual narratives (including comics,
graphic narratives, animated documentaries and online interactive doc-
umentaries) that attempt to represent violent experiences, primarily in
the Levant. In doing so, it explores, from a philosophical perspective,
the problem of representing trauma when language seems inadequate
to describe our experiences and how the visual narrative form may help
us with this. The book uses the concept of the ineffable to expand the
notion of representation beyond the confines of a western, individualist
notion of trauma as event based. In so doing, it engages a postcolonial
perspective of trauma, which treats violence as ongoing and connected
to several incidents of violence across time and space. This book demon-
strates how the formal qualities of visual non-fiction may help fill the
gap between representation and experience through the process of ‘dark’
writing.
Jeanne-Marie Viljoen is an academic in the field of Cultural & Liter-
ary Studies at the University of South Australia. Her abiding interest
in exploring how communication about difficult experiences can occur
through art in contexts where language cannot capture all we want to
say, has led her to focus primarily on non-fictional, visual narratives.
Living and working in contested states with violent histories such as
Apartheid South Africa, North Cyprus and Australia throughout her life
drives her engagement with the postcolonial world.
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124 Lorca in English
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125 War Comics: A Postcolonial Perspective
Jeanne-Marie Viljoen
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge .com/
War Comics
A Postcolonial Perspective
Jeanne-Marie Viljoen
First published 2021
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt 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
© 2021 Taylor & Francis
The right of Jeanne-Marie Viljoen to be identified as author of
this work has been asserted by her 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: Viljoen, Jeanne-Marie, author.
Title: War comics : a postcolonial perspective /
Jeanne-Marie Viljoen.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2020. |
Series: Routledge interdisciplinary perspectives on literature |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Summary: “This book focuses on non-fictional, visual
narratives (including comics; graphic narratives; animated
documentaries and online, interactive documentaries) that
attempt to represent violent experiences, primarily in the
Levant”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020013082 | ISBN 9780367533151
(hardback) | ISBN 9781003081364 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Documentary comic books, strips, etc.—
History and criticism. | Documentary films—History and
criticism. | Animated films—History and critcism. | War in
literature. | Violence in literature. | Psychic trauma in literature. |
Arab-Israeli conflict—Literature and the conflict.
Classification: LCC PN6714 .V55 2020 | DDC 070.1—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013082
ISBN: 978-0-367-53315-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-08136-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
This book is dedicated to Daniel Arthur and Isabella
Sophia, the bravest people I know; & to my father, for his
steadfast confidence in me.

Contents
List of Figures xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Glossary xv
List of Abbreviations xvii
Introduction: Towards a Postcolonial
Understanding of Violence 1
Can We Share Painful Experiences? 1
Including the Ineffable in Representations of Trauma 4
‘Dark’ Writing Violent Experience 6
The Experience-Representation Complex 6
Indirect Representation of Trauma through Images 10
‘Dark’ Writing 11
Forensic Aesthetics 12
Conclusion: Towards an Ethical Representation
of Violence 13
1 ‘Dark’ Writing Violence in Aesthetic Forms 19
Introduction: Accommodating the Ineffable to Share
Experiences of Violence 19
What Is the Ineffable? 20
What Is ‘Dark’ Writing? 21
Approaching the Ineffable through Aesthetics 25
The Relationship between the Ineffable
and the Ethical 27
Painterly Aesthetic Forms 30
Approaching Violence through Images 32
War Photographs 33
War Drawings 35
Conclusion 39
viii Contents
2 Graphic Narratives, Framing the Ineffable 41
Introduction: ‘Dark’ Writing in the Graphic
Narrative Form 41
Graphic Narratives, Graphic Novels and Comics 42
Graphic Narratives, the Body and Ethics 45
Graphic Narratives, ‘Dark’ Writing and the Ineffable 49
Footnotes in Gaza (Sacco 2009), Waltz with Bashir:
A Lebanon war story (Folman & Polonsky
2009) and the Historical Context of the Graphic
Narrative Form 51
The Five Frames Approach 54
Frame 1: The Frame of Accuracy 54
Frame 2: The Frame of Words and Images 56
Frame 3: The Frame of the Logic of Panels 57
Frame 4: The Frame of the Gutter 59
Frame 5: The Frame of Violent Associations 61
Conclusion 61
3 ‘Dark’ Writing the Khan Younis Massacre 63
Introduction: Footnotes in Gaza (Sacco 2009) 63
Sacco’s Frame of Accuracy 67
The Politics of ‘Dark’ Writing 68
Sacco as Witness Who Does Not See 71
Khamis as Witness Who Does Not Know 84
The Witnessing Relationship 89
Framing Associations of Further Violence through
‘Dark’ Writing 99
The Beam of Numbness 101
The Shaft of Shame 106
Conclusion 111
4 ‘Dark’ Writing the Sabra and Shatila Massacre 113
Introduction: Waltz with Bashir 113
Framing Accuracy in the Graphic Narrative Form 117
The ‘Dark’ Writing of Memory 127
Framing Ethics through Shame 137
Framing the Gap between Words and Images 145
Framing Gutters and Panels 151
Conclusion 158
Contents ix
5 ‘Dark’ Writing Violent Experiences in New
Aesthetic Forms 161
Introduction: From Graphic Narratives to Other Visual
Aesthetic Forms 161
How Do Films Share Experiences? 165
Applying ‘Dark’ Writing to Waltz with Bashir
and Animated Documentary 168
A Spectrum of Non-Fictional, Visual Narrative Forms
between Experience and Representation 175
Online Interactive Documentary 177
Applying ‘Dark’ Writing to Online Interactive
Documentary 183
Summary 186
Why This Book Matters 187
References 189
Appendix A: Images referred to in Chapter 3 199
Index 205