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Le territoire de l’album de jeunesse contemporain, multiforme, inventif paraît fluctuant. Partagé entre l’image et le texte, il se présente comme une forme hybride aux frontières mouvantes entre livre illustré, album de bande dessinée, roman graphique. Notre corpus volontairement restreint concerne, parmi l’album de langue française tel qu’il se développe de 1945 à nos jours, une sélection significative d’œuvres d’auteurs illustrateurs. Il nous permet d’interroger les influences qui ont façonné son visage d’aujourd’hui : statut de l’enfant dans la société, impact de la technologie, des impératifs commerciaux, des grands courants artistiques. A partir de l’analyse des rapports entre l’image et le texte, il nous conduit à questionner la place de l’album dans l’environnement iconotextuel. Est-il possible de dégager sa singularité et de nous poser la question du genre ? Après avoir repéré aux sources de l’album la rencontre mouvementée de l’image et des mots de la Renaissance au XIXe siècle, nous analysons l’émergence de l’album contemporain, sa séparation avec l’album de bande dessinée entre 1900 et 1939. Nous voyons dans le rapport très particulier qui s’installe entre le support du livre et le fonctionnement de l’iconotexte, la constitution d’un genre de l’entre-deux. / The domain of contemporary picture books for children, in their multiple forms, is inventive and without formalized borders. It is shared between image and text, and presented as a hybrid form at with movable frontiers between illustrated books, picture books, comic books, and graphic novels. Our references are deliberately restrained to concern French language picture books and their development from 1945 to today, with a significant selection of works from author-illustrators. This makes visible the influences that have shaped today’s position: the status of the child in society, impact of technology, commercial needs, and major artistic trends. The analysis of the relationship between image and text takes us to question the place of the album in the iconotextuel environment. Is it possible to separate its singularity and for us to ask questions of the genre? After tracing the sources of picture books with the meeting dynamic of images and words from the Renaissance to the XXIst century, we analyze the emergence of the contemporary picture book, and its separation from comic books between 1900 and 1939. We can see that the very particular relationship that has developed between the physical book and the functioning of the iconotext, has led to the creation of a type between the two.

In response to the events on September the Eleventh, various media attempted to make sense of the seemingly radical altered political landscape. Comic books, though traditionally framed as low brow pulp, were no exception. This thesis is a work of rhetorical criticism. It applies Walter Fisher's Narrative Paradigm to a specific set of artifacts: John Ney Rieber and John Cassaday's six-part comic series, collectively titled Captain America: The New Deal (2010). The question that is the focus of this thesis is: Does The New Deal, framed as a response to the events surrounding September the Eleventh, form a rhetorically effective narrative? The analysis that follows demonstrates the importance of meeting audience expectations when presenting them with controversial viewpoints. / Graduation date: 2012

The genre of comics has had a tumultuous career throughout the twentieth century: it has careened from wildly popular to being perceived as the source of society’s ills. Despite having been relegated to the lowest rung of the artistic ladder for the better part of the twentieth century, comics has been gaining in quality and respectability over the last couple of decades. My introductory chapter provides a broad, basic introduction to the genre of comics––its historical development, its different forms, and a survey of comics criticism over the last thirty years. In chapter two I clarify the nature of comics by comparing it to literature, film, and pictorial art, thereby highlighting its hybrid nature. It has elements in common with all of these, and yet it is a distinct genre. My primary focus is on Chris Ware, whom I introduce in chapter three, a brilliant creator who has garnered widespread recognition and respect. His magnum opus is Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, the story of four generations of Corrigan men, most of whom have been negligent in raising their children. Jimmy Corrigan, as a result, is an introverted, insecure thirty–something–year–old man. Among comics creators Ware is unusual in that his story does not address socio–political issues, like most of his peers, which I discuss in chapter four. Jimmy Corrigan is an isolated tale with a very specific focus. Ware’s narrative is somewhat like those of William Faulkner, whose stories have a narrow focus, revolving around the lives of the inhabitants of Yoknapatawpha county, rather than encompassing the vast landscape of national socio–political concerns. Also, in chapter five I explore the intriguing combination of realist and Gothic elements––normally at opposite ends of the generic continuum––that Ware merges in Jimmy Corrigan. This feature is especially interesting because it is another way that his work explores aspects of hybridity. Finally, in my conclusion I examine the current state of comics in American culture and its future prospects for development and success, as well as the potential for future comics criticism.

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