Undergraduate Course: The Graphic Novel: Narrative in Sequential Art (ENLI10380)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course features works by graphic novelists from a range of global contexts, with attention to specific regional subgenres (such as American superhero narratives, Japanese manga, and the European bande dessinée tradition), as well as the thematic content and formal properties of individual graphic narratives. Our focus will be on three particular subgenres: adaptations from printed literary texts; memoirs; and historiography (including indigenous oral history). In addition to exploring conventions of narrative drawing, we will analyse these subgenres with reference to established literary criticism (on literary form, life writing, historiography, and adaptation), but also engage with a range of critical models specific to the analysis of graphic narrative. |
| Course description |
Strong emphasis will be placed on the process of adaptation of literary texts to graphic format, with particular attention to the ways in which narrative is rendered. Students will therefore be able to draw upon existing skills in the close reading of literary texts, but extend them further by exploring how literary criticism on the formal properties of texts can be applied to a new visual format. In addition, students will encounter new critical models on sequential art, focused around the potential of narrative drawing for creating unique stylistic effects and characterisation, and the way in which time and space are represented differently than in printed texts.
Indicative reading list for 2025/26
Aldama, Frederick Luis. Multicultural Comics: From Zap to Blue Beetle. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010.
Baetens, Jan and Frey, Hugo. The Graphic Novel: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Grennan, Simon; La Cour, Erin; Spanjers, Rik (eds). Key Terms in Comics Studies. London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022.
Grove, Laurence. Comics in French: The Bande Dessinée in Context. New York: Berghahn Books, 2010.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. London: Routledge, 2013.
Iadonisi, Richard. Graphic History: Essays on Graphic Novels and/as History. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2012.
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994.
Petersen, Robert S. Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels: A History of Graphic Narratives. Brighton: Roundhouse, 2011.
Round, Julia and Punter, David. Gothic in comics and graphic novels: a critical approach. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2014.
Sanders, Julie. Adaptation and Appropriation. London: Routledge, 2016.
Tabacknick, Stephen Ely; Saltzman, Esther Bendit (eds). Drawn from the classics: essays on graphic adaptations of literary works. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2015.
Witek, Joseph. Comic Books as History: The Narrative Art of Jack Jackson, Art Spiegman, and Harvey Pekar. London: University Press of Mississippi, 1989.
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Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 15 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
One coursework essay of 2,000 words (30%) [Linked to learning outcomes 1,2,3,4]
One final essay of 3,000 words (70%) [Linked to learning outcomes 1,2,3,4] |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Construct original, clear and coherent arguments about the graphic novel as a medium, using critical models from within literature and the visual arts
- Analyse the formal dimensions of graphic novels using recognised methods of literary criticism and sequential art criticism to substantiate and illustrate those arguments
- Evaluate established conventions within different subgenres of sequential art, and recognise (where appropriate) the ways in which individual graphic narratives depart from those conventions
- Defend their point of view on the above topics both verbally, in class discussions, and in written form.
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Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Michelle Keown
Tel: (0131 6)50 6856
Email: michelle.keown@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Lina Gordyshevskaya
Tel:
Email: pgordysh@ed.ac.uk |
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