Dear BAM...
Sep. 27th, 2006 11:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tahnanDear Brown Alumni Monthly,
When you wrote: Remember comic books? In recent years, illustrators and writers have used the form to create serious literature., I believe you left out a few words.
What you meant was, "In recent years, we've finally gotten around to noticing that illustrators and writers have been using the form to create serious literature." Perhaps the fact that the phrase "graphic novel" (which you use on the cover with the subheading "Comic books get serious", once again suggesting that this is a new development) is cited in Merriam-Webster to 1978 should give you a hint about this. Perhaps the fact that the recent movie V for Vendetta is an adaptation of a graphic novel published twenty years ago might suggest something. Perhaps a few half-hearted moments skimming Wikipedia to get a starting point for learning more about the form might have tipped you off.
Welcome to the twentieth century, BAM. Call me when you reach the 21st.
When you wrote: Remember comic books? In recent years, illustrators and writers have used the form to create serious literature., I believe you left out a few words.
What you meant was, "In recent years, we've finally gotten around to noticing that illustrators and writers have been using the form to create serious literature." Perhaps the fact that the phrase "graphic novel" (which you use on the cover with the subheading "Comic books get serious", once again suggesting that this is a new development) is cited in Merriam-Webster to 1978 should give you a hint about this. Perhaps the fact that the recent movie V for Vendetta is an adaptation of a graphic novel published twenty years ago might suggest something. Perhaps a few half-hearted moments skimming Wikipedia to get a starting point for learning more about the form might have tipped you off.
Welcome to the twentieth century, BAM. Call me when you reach the 21st.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-27 03:58 pm (UTC)They just got time machines to pre-publish their books.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-27 04:20 pm (UTC)Author-illustrators like Art Spiegelman, Robert Crumb, and Harvey Pekar have reinvented a form typified by Marvel comics...
Setting aside the latter clause, they do at least cite people who have been working in graphic novels for more than the last three years. On the other hand, insofar as it's my professional business to note these things, the use of "have reinvented" rather than "reinvented" add the meaning "and this is 'hot news', something that recently happened". An example sentence from Portner's 2003 paper may be relevant here: "Gutenberg has discovered the art of printing" (which is a very weird thing to say, even though his discovery might be relevant to the current conversation--indeed, in this context, it is--because the discovery, like the aforementioned reinvention, isn't especially recent).
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-27 04:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-27 04:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-27 05:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-27 05:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-27 05:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-27 06:03 pm (UTC)