boredom and everyday life in contemporary comics

Serie: Studies in European Comics and Graphic Novels

Schneider, Greice | Paperback / softback | 12-07-2016 | 9789462700734

Boredom and melancholy in the experience of reading.
Contemporary graphic novels show an interesting shift from the extraordinary to the ordinary in slice-of-life stories in which nothing happens. Present-day graphic accounts are inhabited by melancholic characters whining about the lack of meaning in life. This book examines this intriguing transition and brings a historical, aesthetical and narratological approach to comics in which boredom is not only a topic, but also awakens a deliberate affective response in the very experience of reading. This volume brings together close readings of work by Lewis Trondheim, Chris Ware and Adrian Tomine.

With a foreword by Raphäel Baroni (University of Lausanne).