| Monstrous Imaginaries: The Legacy of Romanticism in Comics Contributor(s): Ahmed, Maaheen (Author) |
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ISBN: 1496825268 ISBN-13: 9781496825261 Publisher: University Press of Mississippi OUR PRICE: $108.90 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: November 2019 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Comics & Graphic Novels - Social Science | Popular Culture - Literary Criticism | Gothic & Romance |
| Dewey: 741.537 |
| LCCN: 2019021693 |
| Physical Information: 0.63" H x 6" W x 9" (1.15 lbs) 264 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Monsters seem inevitably linked to humans and not always as mere opposites. Maaheen Ahmed examines good monsters in comics to show how Romantic themes from the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries persist in today's popular culture. Comics monsters, questioning the distinction between human and monster, self and other, are valuable conduits of Romantic inclinations. Engaging with Romanticism and the many monsters created by Romantic writers and artists such as Mary Shelley, Victor Hugo, and Goya, Ahmed maps the heritage, functions, and effects of monsters in contemporary comics and graphic novels. She highlights the persistence of recurrent Romantic features through monstrous protagonists in English- and French-language comics and draws out their implications. Aspects covered include the dark Romantic predilection for ruins and the sordid, the solitary protagonist and his quest, nostalgia, the prominence of the spectacle as well as excessive emotions, and above all, the monster's ambiguity and rebelliousness. Ahmed highlights each Romantic theme through close readings of well-known but often overlooked comics, including Enki Bilal's Monstre tetralogy, Jim O'Barr's The Crow, and Emil Ferris's My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, as well as the iconic comics series Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and Mike Mignola's Hellboy. In blurring the otherness of the monster, these protagonists retain the exaggeration and uncontrollability of all monsters while incorporating Romantic characteristics. |
Contributor Bio(s): Ahmed, Maaheen: - Maaheen Ahmed is associate professor of comparative literature at Ghent University, Belgium, and a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO). Ahmed is author of Monstrous Imaginaries: The Legacy of Romanticism in Comics and Openness of Comics: Generating Meaning within Flexible Structures, both published by University Press of Mississippi. She has also published articles in and edited special issues for European Comic Art; Authorship; SCAN: Journal of Media Arts Culture; European Journal of American Studies; and International Journal of Comic Art. |