Rebuilding story worlds : the Obscure Cities by Schuiten and Peeters / Jan Baetens.

Includes bibliographies and index.

"The Obscure Cities series is a long-running comics series by François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters that is considered one of the major European and global contributions to the "new comics". It is a series that escapes the dichotomy "comics" versus "graphic novel" as well as the opposition between popular comics and avant-garde niche production. The Obscure Cities is the perfect example of a series that is both highly innovative and very popular. Both authors, Schuiten and Peeters, are key players in contemporary cultural debates and work in Europe, and well known to the American public. Rebuilding Story Worlds, aims at providing the first introduction to this essential series. It has the ambition to offer, in a truly interdisciplinary spirit, a threefold presentation and analysis of the work by Schuiten and Peeters: A synoptic overview and historical contextual contextualization of the series and the European and global comics culture of which it is part. A critical reading of the major themes and techniques of the series, in relationship with the general stakes of the field and in light of cutting-edge research on comics, with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary concerns (architecture, gender, visual culture, genre theory). An analysis of certain themes that stress the political and societal relevance of The Obscure Cities, more specifically themes that have come to the fore in recent and current scholarship in comics studies (which have shifted, very generally speaking, from semiotics to cultural studies and critical theory); the question of gender will play a major role in this regard. Rebuilding Story Worlds also contains a wide range of close reading, which make it a great choice for comics fans and for classroom discussion"--

Frontmatter -- Contents -- 1. A New Series, a New Type of Author -- 2. A World of Its Own -- 3. More Than a Possible World -- 4. Between Chapter and Series -- 5. A New Fantastic -- 6. In and Out the Medium -- 7. Doing Politics in Comics -- 8. Close-Reading The Leaning Girl -- 9. A Conversation with Benoît Peeters -- 10. Birth of an Album: The Theory of the Grain of Sand -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- References -- Index -- About the Author

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