The purpose of this project is to argue the effectiveness of utilizing comics as a learning tool in the first-year composition classroom to help students better understand synthesis. The two main features of comics that help teach synthesis are comic panels and comic closure. Library research was conducted to give insight into the history and terminology of comics, the value of comics in the classroom and in the field of rhetoric and composition, the practicality of using visual rhetoric and literacy in the classroom, and synthesis in the first-year composition classroom. I furthered my research by conducting a retrospective account of my own synthesis comic that I created during my graduate program. I analyzed how creating the synthesis comic helped me to better understand synthesis. I also analyzed how I was better able to effectively execute synthesis specifically through the genre conventions of panels and comic closure. Based on insights from my retrospective account, I will illustrate how the scaffolding exercise of creating a synthesis comic can be an effective tool in the first-year composition classroom. Additionally, I will offer suggestions for further research on the significance of this scaffolding exercise. Comics are becoming more widely valued in academia at large, as well as valued specifically in the field of rhetoric and composition. It is my hope that this thesis will contribute positively to this trend.

A lonely damsel's imprisonment within a castle or convent cell; the eavesdropping of a prisoner next door; the framed image of a woman with a mysterious past. These are familiar themes from 1790s gothic novels, which exploded onto the scene with milestone works like Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho and Matthew Lewis' The Monk. They are also key features, however, of canonical nineteenth-century poems, from Tennyson's "Mariana" to Browning's "My Last Duchess." In this dissertation, I argue that tropes of the gothic novel became disseminated in poetry of the Victorian era, manifesting as formal features that have not heretofore been recognized by scholars as essentially gothic. While most scholars recognize gothic poetry only in a small subset of poems that include ghosts, graveyards or superstition, I contend that gothic tropes became definitive of what we now regard as quintessentially "Victorian" poetic forms: the dramatic monologue, women's sonnets, and Pre-Raphaelite picture poems. "Framed, Imprisoned, Overheard" explores feminist arguments and interdisciplinary crossings between painting and poetry, focusing on both canonical and lesser-known poems of major Victorian poets. Close reading fiction by Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis and Mary Wollstonecraft, and poems by Charlotte Smith, John Keats, William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti, D. G. Rossetti and G. M. Hopkins, I offer a revisionist history that looks beyond the small subset of poems about ghosts or other "gothic" themes, demonstrating how innovations in 1790s sensation fiction contributed to the evolution of major Victorian verse forms.

How can the structures of graphic narratives help us to interrogate, analyse, and ultimately ground stories of ourselves and our world? By not relying solely on verbal or visual language, but the complex interplay between multiple signification strategies, comics open up possibilities for transcending the limits of any single linguistic mode and more fully enunciating the complex layers of superimposed truths that make up our lived experiences. In this doctoral project, I utilize media-specific analysis of graphic narratives and interrogate the multi-modal communication strategies inherent in comics. The result is a multidisciplinary construction of the structural and semiotic modes of comics as an enactment of contemporary narrative ideals that privilege reader-centric, subjective constructions of meaning. My submission consists of four chapters of written research, to be submitted at the end of January, and a collection of autobiographical narrative works that will form an exhibition which will be shown at the time of the viva in April. The presentation of the textual material is an inseparable component of the content, and a piece of practical work in itself. The chapters can be read in any sequence; for the purposes of this abstract, I will discuss them in alphabetical order. My practice work challenges the traditional use of comics-specific affordances, such as panel borders, gutter, use of space as time, and other verbo-visual techniques by remediating them outwith book and digital book-like objects we associate with graphic narratives. Each chapter in the dissertation is its own book-object that enacts the content as well as relates to the larger body of practice work. Childhood Memoirs—Autobiographical Approaches The use of multiple signification strategies allows for communication that transcends the limits of textual or verbal language and can allow a creator to enunciate what may be unspeakable or incomprehensible, such as moments of trauma. I pay special attention to how subjectivity is presented in graphic memoirs within this context, as the drawn nature of comics allows for shifts in the status of the author/narrator that are unique to the medium. Comics as a Synthetic Medium—A Very Short Introduction The ‘introductory’ chapter contextualizes my research and comics studies more generally within non-binary, non-hierarchical concepts of rhizomatic knowledge structures that utilize the concept of text in the Barthesian sense as a mode of communication rather than solely lexicographic writing. In comics, text and imagery can actively oppose each other, creating a space where new meaning can be synthesized from this tension. This is Derrida’s deconstruction, Benjamin’s inclusion of cultural production in literature, or Barthes’ writerly text. Each utterance on a comics page may convey multiple levels of independent meaning, making it unique among narrative media. By examining the semiotic and structural theories presented by Barthes and Derrida, as well as Benjamin, Deleuze, Witgenstein and others, I develop the case for a comics-specific theory of trans-medial, subjective, deconstructed communication. Mapping the Journey—The Cartography of Autobiography In this chapter, I analyse the mythology of the supposed inductive system of representation in mapping and explore how including a secondary visual semiological system, that of the map, within the primary system of comics impacts reader perception of truth through verifiability. I also explore the intersection of non-representational theory within geography and authentication within autographics. Media Specificity of Non-traditional Graphic Narratives The focus of this chapter is on the impact of disseminatory (re)mediation on the medium of graphic narratives. I assert that neither digital nor print is superior to the other, but deliver different experiences to the reader. Through close analysis of the formal qualities inherent in digital and physical representation of comic content, I articulate the qualities unique to each distribution strategy and theorize ways that creators can take advantage of the media at their disposal. The practical element of my submission takes the form of a collection of objects that utilize a variety of graphic narrative structures outwith traditional comics forms in order to explore facets of my childhood memories. The exhibition will be constituted of several lanterns, dioramas and dolls’ houses, as well as some printed material. I attempt to ground my memories in architecture and place, while aware that the sense of solidity this lends my recollections is a false sense of objective security. To counteract any attempt to present a wholly unified and reliable narratorial self, I present the same places and memories through various angles and media. I make explicit some of the dissonant ‘truths’ myself and other members of my family were presented with, as an attempt to consciously confront the fragility of utilizing such collectively constructed memory to construct a stable self-image.

There are many aspects of ecological thinking. When reading texts through a lens of dark ecology, certain conflicts that arise from the imposition of human expectations on natural systems are revealed. These include interconnectedness, complicity, and ambiguities. Within a system, boundaries are contingent and transitory. Beginnings and ends are gradual, not definite. Ecological systems change over time, but it is a category error to imagine that change represents progress or to assume a teleological purpose. While there are hierarchies of power, and different roles, no species is, ecologically speaking, more advanced than another. Ecological criticism focuses on interconnectedness, complicity, and ambiguity in art and literature, and is well suited to texts that deal with destructive processes like degradation and decay. Noir serves as a good example of a genre that can be read as an ecological system. Graphic novels, which already defy easy categorization are also ripe for ecological study..In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep the boundary between natural and artificial is blurred, not just through the exploration of empathy, but in human artifacts. Watchmen uses many techniques, including a fractured narrative, simultaneous scenes on a single page, and the visual unity space and time to undermine the idea of clear beginnings and endings and critique teleology. A third work, Beautiful Darkness, probes how natural forces of disintegrations overcome temporary human constructs, including civilization. A dark ecological reading yields a sense of humility, instead of certainty, about human capacity for knowledge regarding ecological systems. It fosters respect for the unknowable that lies in shadow and the complicated natural systems that defy attempts at reduction. Disruptive events in narratives, when read ecologically, remind us of the unpredictable results that manipulation of components of the system can have for humanity, as well as on the functioning and balance of the system as a whole.

Thesis (M.A. (African Languages)) -- University of the North, 1997 / Refer to the document

Manga, or Japanese comic books, are one of the newest popular media imports from Japan to garner a sizable following in the U.S. Shortly before the establishment of an American manga publishing industry and the investment in resources to publish manga legally, fans calling themselves scanslators or scanlators (scan + translators) began translating Japanese manga themselves and distributing it to other fans through the Internet. This dissertation focuses on the manga importation process from several different angles, comparing within each the struggles and similarities between the actions and motives of scanslators and publishers. Comparing and contrasting the practices and norms of scanslators with those of the American manga publishing industry, this case study will provide insight into the ways that fans of transnational texts are involved in a system of global media flows whose paths are determined by legal, cultural, economic, and political forces. This work focuses on three stages in the manga importation process: selection, translation, and distribution. This study is based on the textual analysis of trade journal articles and web sites, informed by interviews with scanslators and manga industry workers. I conducted interviews over a six-month period in 2008, focusing on two groups, the publishing company Tokyopop and the scanslation group "Paradise." I carried out follow-up interviews a year later. I supplemented these interviews with interviews from freelance manga translators. I demonstrate principles influencing the flow of other kinds of media across borders. Manga serves as a prime example of the rise and transformation of a genre in the book market, and more broadly as a form of media. This case also serves as a snapshot of a moment of change within the publishing industries as they move towards increased digitization.

No description available.

This study, conducted in a junior high school in Canberra, used naturalistic research methodology and idiographic data analysis. As the results obtained in the study were time and context specific, the object was to reveal the personal factors which affected the nature of the reading experience for individual research participants. The theoretical basis of the research was derived from Louise Rosenblatt's transactional theory and focused on the reading experiences of adolescents with whole class novels. Three research techniques were employed in the exploration of aesthetic reader responses to two whole class novels. The techniques: reading journals, small group discussions and creative written responses to the text were implemented sequentially and revealed different levels and stages of individual and group responses from the 'primary spontaneous' to a considered reflective response. Data was explored through the case study mode of analysis which included information relevant to the individual research participants and the study context. The research explored the integration of the individual's evocation of the text with the individual's awareness of self, text, literature and the wider social context. The research data concluded that the employment of classroom practices which focus on a full, individual transaction with a text promotes the development of critical awareness of and familiarity with the text. This sound understanding of the individual's evocation of the text forms a self-aware and firm basis for the development of active, engaged and critical readers of texts.

The exegesis accompanies a thesis, the latter being the portfolio of work consisting of two parts, each being a completed first draft of a novel written during the Masters of Creative Writing course: Part 1: ‘Sandcastles’ - a 'closed' text novel Part 2: ‘The Postmodern Rules For Family Living’ - an 'open' text novel These two works are separately bound with a thesis cover sheet and numbered. They are embargoed until 30 June 2011. The exegesis covers the writer’s motivation for writing these works, reflections on the course of development and changes in thinking that occurred during research and the act of writing. It shows the changing perspectives of the writer’s two thesis works in context and in contra-distinction to each other. It includes the writer’s academic and creative goals as they developed and the result achieved in terms of those goals. It highlights the writer’s developing interest in literary theory including suggesting an ephemeral adjunct to Reader-Response theory which is described as 'Collapse'. It shows the development of the writer’s deep interest in reality in fiction versus the lie in fiction and in the differences between writing and reading a creative work produced primarily for entertainment versus work of a literary nature, identifying some of the differences in features the writer has perceived.

This research study has several objectives. The first is to research graphic novels and comic books, their history and the issues this visual and literary medium has had with censorship, with preconceived notions that the medium is only meant for a juvenile audience, and with the development of rating standards. The second objective is to study current literature that has been written by scholars and librarians on this medium. This exploration of graphic novels and comic books and the scholarship and collection development efforts related to them provides a foundation for considering the issues and challenges which current and future librarians may have to face, in maintaining this literary form in library collections. The third objective is to conduct a focus group and to survey librarians in Tennessee from a range of backgrounds in order to consider a number of questions, including: if these librarians have encountered patrons who challenged having these books included in their institutions’ collections, what age range the surveyed librarians believe this medium is meant to appeal to, and how the librarians would rate content in comic books and graphic novels; such as, violence, language, sexual activity, etc.; including terms used by publishers in their rating standards to describe different levels of content. The results from this study showed there was quite a difference between what librarians feel is appropriate for the levels they were given and the types of content; with there being usually at least a 2 - 3 year age difference between the top two to three options chosen or there being a difference between the participants selecting an age range and selecting either “All Ages” or “None” as appropriate. The literature research and the data obtained from the survey along with the responses received from the focus group indicate that, since the majority of participants stated they “sometimes” experienced selection difficulties and problems with cataloging and shelving these books, picking an appropriate age range for a comic book or graphic novel is very subjective and librarians and publishers are still a long way away from agreeing on the appropriateness of the content.