Autobiographical Writing

ENG 311: Autobiographical Writing: The Graphic Novel Autobiography

Class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays, 12-1:15 pm at Sakamaki B 309

Focus: WI, ETHICS

This class introduces you to autobiographical writing via the medium of the graphic novel. Many graphic novels use the first-person narrative voice, but in this course, we examine graphic narratives that are explicitly autobiographical: graphic-novel autobiographies. While the tension between word and image makes self-caricature and irony virtually intrinsic to the form, the presentation of the self through sequential images evokes the fragmentariness of individual identity and experience. Additionally, the genre of the graphic-novel autobiography is drawn to violent or traumatic episodes. How is the high-minded social critique of the conditions that lead to trauma and oppression reconciled to the feel-good imperative of mass comics or the humor and pornography of the underground comix movement–the paternal-form that gave birth to the autobiographical graphic novel. I use paternal instead of maternal advisedly, since the relationship to the father or the name-of-the-father plays a significant role in many of the graphic novels we will be studying.

This course has a Writing Intensive (W) Focus designation.  Written assignments contribute significantly to each student’s course grade. While a personal essay marks the final assignment, this iteration of the class does not really meet the conventional requirements of creative writing.  The class requires students to do a substantial amount of writing—a minimum of 4,000 words, or about 16 pages. 

This course also has a Contemporary Ethical Issues (E) Focus designation. Contemporary ethical issues are fully integrated into the main course material and will constitute at least 30% of the content. At least 12 hours of class time will be spent discussing ethical issues. Through the use of lectures, discussions and assignments, students will develop basic competency in recognizing and analyzing ethical issues; responsibly deliberating on ethical issues; and making ethically determined judgments.