Medium-conscious, self-standing literariness for diverse audiences in graphic novel adaptations of Alki Zei’s young adult novels

Evangelia Moula; Konstantinos Malafantis

Evangelia Moula Humanities, Secondary Education; Hellenic Open University http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9694-4924
Konstantinos Malafantis Education and Literature, National and Kapodistrian University; Hellenic Educational Society

Article ID: 243

2978 Views, 102 PDF Downloads

Keywords: children’s literature, graphic novels, genre-specific literariness, adaptation, implied readership

Abstract

This paper aims to critically comment on two adaptations of literary works by the internationally recognized Greek author, Alki Zei, in graphic novels. The works under discussion are Peter’s Great Walk and Wildcat Under Glass. At first and as a prerequisite for understanding the proposed approach, the role of storytelling in today’s media-dependent world is discussed. This is followed by a brief reference to the relationship of literature to the graphic novel genre, and to the notion of cognitive complexity as central to the “literariness” of a graphic adaptation. The interpretative toolkit to be used for the analysis of the texts is then delivered and the works under consideration are briefly presented. In the main part of the analysis, more criteria of graphic novels’ literariness are introduced. A key criterion of the self-contained literary quality of the adaptations is graphitization, as it fruitfully intersects and cross-fertilizes the visual style with the heroes’ characterization and the prevailing mood of the story. “Iconic solidarity” and focalization are used in the same direction. Graphic counterparts of literary expressions or Figurative language are also sought and the “authentication” index of adaptations is examined as an indication of the intended readership. In conclusion, it is perceived that both adaptations, although staying true to their sources, meet the conditions of a genre-specific literariness, but also differ in the degree of cognitive complexity, to the point of addressing different reading audiences.

References

[1]Bal M, Van Boheemen C. Introduction to the theory of narrative. In: Narratology. University of Toronto Press; 2009.

[2]Dena C. Transmedia Practice: Theorising the Practice of Expressing a Fictional World across Distinct Media and Environments [PhD thesis]. University of Sydney; 2009.

[3]Ryan ML, Ruppert J, Bernet JW (editors). Narrative across Media: The Languages of Storytelling. University of Nebraska Press; 2004.

[4]Bolter JD, Grusin RA. Remediation. Configurations. 1996; 4(3): 311–358. doi: 10.1353/con.1996.0018

[5]Thon JN, Wilde LR. Mediality and materiality of contemporary comics. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. 2016; 7(3): 233–241. doi: 10.1080/21504857.2016.1199468

[6]Hutcheon L. A Theory of Adaptation. Routledge; 2006.

[7]Wagner G. The Novel and the Cinema. Fairleigh Dickinson Press; 1975. pp. 222–227.

[8]Jakobson R. On linguistic aspects of translation. In: Brower R (editor). On Translation. Harvard University Press; 2000. pp. 232–239.

[9]Stam R. Beyond fidelity: The dialogics of adaptation. In: Naremore J (editor). Film Adaptation. The Althlone Press; 2000. pp. 54–76.

[10]Moula E, Malafantis K. Speech Clouds. Comics and New Literacies. Comicon; 2015. p. 160.

[11]Kukkonen K. Studying Comics and Graphic Novels. John Wiley & Sons; 2013.

[12]Zunshine L. What to expect when you pick up a graphic novel. SubStance. 2011; 40(1): 114–134. doi: 10.1353/sub.2011.0009

[13]Schüwer M. How Comics Tell Stories. Outline of An Intermedial Narrative Theory of Graphic Literature (German). WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier; 2008. pp. 17–26.

[14]Gerrig RJ, Jacovina ME. Reader participation in the experience of narrative. Psychology of Learning and Motivation. 2009; 51: 223–254.

[15]Pagliaro M. Is a picture worth a thousand words? Determining the criteria for graphic novels with literary merit. The English Journal. 2014; 103(4): 31–45.

[16]Thon JN. Subjectivity across Media. On transmedial strategies of subjective representation in contemporary feature films graphic novels and computer games. In: Ryan ML, Thon JN (editors). Storyworlds Across Media: Toward a Media-Conscious Narratology. University of Nebraska Press; 2014. pp. 67–102.

[17]Davies PF. Comics as Communication: A Functional Approach. Springer Nature; 2019. p. 72

[18]McCloud S. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. Harper Collins; 1993.

[19]Groensteen T. The System of Comics. Univ. Press of Mississippi; 2007.

[20]Surdiacourt S. Tying Ends Together: Surface and Storyworld in Comics. Comics Forum; 2012. p. 174.

[21]Gardner J. Film + comics: A multimodal romance in the age of transmedial convergence. In: Ryan ML, Thon JN (editors). Storyworlds across Media: Toward a Media-Conscious Narratology. University of Nebraska Press; 2014. pp. 193–210.

[22]Panaou P. Come explore with me the literary treasures of Cyprus and Greece: A short introduction to Greek and Greek Cypriot children’s literatures. Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature. 2018; 56(2): 4–8. doi: 10.1353/bkb.2018.0019

[23]Delfino I. The renewal of the Greek illustrated children’s book during the metapolitefsi. Design/Arts/Culture. 2023; 3(2): 40–51. doi: 10.12681/dac.31359

[24]Elliot K. Literary adaptation and the form/content debate. In: Ryan ML (editor). Narrative across Media: The Languages of Storytelling. University of Nebraska Press; 2004. pp. 220–243.

[25]Lefèvre P. Some medium-specific qualities of graphic sequences. SubStance. 2011; 40(1): 14–33. https://doi.org/10.1353/sub.2011.0007

[26]Groensteen T. Comics and Narration. Univ. Press of Mississippi; 2013. p. 124.

[27]Marion P. Traces in Boxes: Graphic Work, Narrative Figuration and Reader Participation. Essay on Comics (France) [PhD thesis].Université Catholique de Louvain; 1991.

[28]Groensteen T. The monstrator the recitant and the shadow of the narrator. European Comic Art. 2010; 3(1): 1–21.

[29]Horstkotte S, Pedri N. Focalization in graphic narrative. Narrative. 2011; 19(3): 330–357. doi: 10.1353/nar.2011.0021

[30]O’Toole M. The Language of Displayed Art, 2nd ed. Routledge; 2010. p. 13.

[31]Kintsch W. Comprehension: A Paradigm for Cognition. Cambridge University Press; 1998. p. 94.

[32]Mikkonen K. Remediation and the sense of time in graphic narratives. In: Goggin J, Hassler-Forest D (editors). The Rise and the Reason of Comics and Graphic Literature: Critical Essays on the Form. McFarland; 2014. p. 82.

[33]Moula E. Peter’s great walk in a graphic novel: A creative reconstruction or from the literary focus to the visual subjectification of the graphic narrative. Filologiki 2021; 154–155.

[34]Ryan ML. On the window structure of narrative discourse. Semiotica. 1987; 64(½): 59–81. doi: 10.1515/semi.1987.64.1-2.59