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What the title says. I had to write an essay on this. I'm just curious as to what your opinions are on it. My class was pretty much split. Are they literature?

Quote:What the title says. I had to write an essay on this. I'm just curious as to what your opinions are on it. My class was pretty much split. Are they literature?

 

By calling them graphic novels someone is trying to convince us that they are "literature".

 

If you consider any written story literature, then of course they are. To me, they are still comics. Is Batman literature? Archie?

Yes. A story is a story is a story, and all literature is is a written story.

 

Put even more simply: if you consider "50 Shades of Grey" to be literature, there is no way in hell that "The Dark Knight Returns" isn't.

Yes.  And I don't like a single graphic novel.  Literature has nothing to do with something being good or not.  Hundreds of years from now, there may be no distinction between Shakesphere and some random writer we've never heard of.  It could even be an internet blogger we've never heard of.  Liturature is kept alive by people constantly insisting it's "more" relevant and "better" than what people are writing NOW.   But is it?  

Quote:By calling them graphic novels someone is trying to convince us that they are "literature".

 

If you consider any written story literature, then of course they are. To me, they are still comics. Is Batman literature? Archie?

We were specifically talking about graphic novels. Ones like The Killing Joke, which are longer than a typical comic. I don't really know where I stand on it.


Is 50 Shades of Grey literature? There's a distinction obviously between types of literature. But it is a former of literature? Maybe it is.

Yes.

I can see the distinction because the author who uses the written word exclusively is building a mental image in the head of the reader and letting them fill in the gaps. If he's good at it, the reader will see what the author intends, while still being able to maintain his own image in his mind. In other words, the author is engaging the reader's imagination so that the reader can "see" the same thing, just with some slightly different details. If you've ever had a discussion with someone over a scene in a book that the both of you have read, it's very likely that the two of you will have the basic image down, but you may have wildly different details about that scene.

 

The author who uses words and images does not do this though. He is forcing the image onto the page and replacing the reader's imagination with his own. The reader simply has to look and absorb the image and there is little to no effort done by the reader other than critique.

 

When I was younger, I loved Comics and the art in them. I just thought the images were so cool. But as I began to read better and better books, and become a better reader myself, I got bored with comics. I was being forced to see things a certain way and I didn't like it. Something was missing. Now, is it literature? Yes, I can agree that a graphic novel is literature that uses visual images as well as the written word in order to tell a story. But to me, telling a story is only half of what a writer is trying to do. Anyone can yell on a street corner and tell a story. A great storyteller uses words to engage the reader in order to get him to see the image in his own mind. That's what I want.

So, I guess I'm the only one that heard "graphic" novel and immediately thought......"Deacon had masterful hands. The strength of what was building was staggering. Mind-blowing. My body was going to be blown to dust, atoms, and If Deacon stopped, I’d cry. Cry, and beg. And maybe kill...then Dragon Fury burst the door open...."

Sure it's literature.  


Literature is defined as written work.  Is a graphic novel not written work?

Yes they are, and instead of writing about the scenes like in regular novels, you get to see the background and the emotion in the faces of the characters

literally

Bad Literature is still literature

 

50 shades is bad literature 

 

Killing Joke is good literature  :thumbsup:

Quote:What the title says. I had to write an essay on this. I'm just curious as to what your opinions are on it. My class was pretty much split. Are they literature?

 

Are you trying to get people to write your essay for you?

By definition, yes it is. 

Quote:Are you trying to get people to write your essay for you?

I said I had to write one. It's already been written and graded. We just debated afterwards.

I wish Penthouse Forum letters included graphics.

Quote:I wish Penthouse Forum letters included graphics.

You just gotta flip ahead a few pages.

Quote:You just gotta flip ahead a few pages.

 

Yeah, and where are the pictures of the orgy that developed after the pizza delivery boy arrived at the sorority house?

 

I call shenanigans.

Quote:Yeah, and where are the pictures of the orgy that developed after the pizza delivery boy arrived at the sorority house?

 

I call shenanigans.

 

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