Monthly Archives: October 2023

I taught this book in my graphic novels class in 2017, but Past Me did not do Present Me the favor of making any kind of notes about what I did with it in class back then, other than a detailed description of the fascinating ways the text charts time, so that’s probably something IContinueContinue reading “Chicken with Plums, Marjane Satrapi”

This took me a long time to read, for some reason, because it’s quite short, and I was mostly riveted when I did read it, I guess because while the tone is somehow quite familiar (coolly analytical), the kinds of family dynamics described are quite alien to me — having parents, whom you live with,ContinueContinue reading “A Feather on the Breath of God, Sigrid Nunez”

It was fun to teach this again, and a pleasure to re-read it. It’s interesting to me that my students hardly complain about how difficult it is, though it is really quite difficult! Not only because it’s fascinatingly elliptical, but also because it’s so dense with literary references. I found this very annoying the firstContinueContinue reading “Fun Home, Alison Bechdel”

It was such a treat to re-read these, and especially, to read them one after another, to notice the kinds of things they do, and do differently. In particular, I was fascinated by the difference in narrative voice — Small Things Like These is written in the third-person (“Down in the yard, Bill Furlong, theContinueContinue reading “Foster, Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan”

I was delighted to find that my students loved this as much as I do. I confessed to someone after class that it’s on the syllabus in large part because I love it so much and want more people to read it, but the fact is that it’s also just a brilliant story about aContinueContinue reading “A Bintel Brief, Liana Finck”

The site formerly known as twitter has its flaws, but one things I will be forever grateful to it for is that it pushed me to finally undertake the project of reading Cavell’s Pursuits of Happiness and watching all of the movies he writes about. There was a lively thread where people ranked the differentContinueContinue reading “Pursuits of Happiness, Stanley Cavell”

I was talking to a colleague about how I felt a little weird about teaching Palestine, because although it’s important in the history of graphic novels and the kinds of stories they can tell, it’s also 30 years old. Many of my students don’t really have a sense what has been happening in the conflictContinueContinue reading “How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, Sarah Glidden”

Fernandes was part of the New Voices Festival here in the Spring, and her readings were terrific, and she was so smart and interesting in the panel discussions. The poems were so deeply relatable that I almost couldn’t recognize them as poems, except that they were also formally playful in wonderful ways. I especially enjoyedContinueContinue reading “I Do Everything I’m Told, Megan Fernandes”

This works so well as a follow-up to Watchmen, because it’s such a forceful contrast — totally different style of art, completely different layout, documentary instead of fiction, etc. But there are unexpected resemblances: both investigate political conflict and situations that seem hopeless; both feature multiple storylines in a kaleidoscopic sort of way (though WatchmenContinueContinue reading “Palestine, Joe Sacco”