The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 18.0427  Monday, 2 July 2007

From: 		John V. Knapp <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: 		Friday, 29 Jun 2007 12:57:32 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: 18.0419 Classical Comics
Comment: 	Re: SHK 18.0419 Classical Comics

Dan --

As is well known, the devil himself can cite Shakespeare for his own 
purposes.  No matter the so-called literary content of comic books, they 
are still entertainments, cool-aid instead of vin du pays for those 
whose interest in prose or poetry doesn't go much further than dialog 
bubbles of four to 8 words per bubble.  All of this attention to dialog 
bubbles would be merely a guilty pleasure for some IF it were not for 
the fact that the MLA is now (apparently) paying serious attention to 
this material and- what really is disturbing-that some university 
literature departments are increasingly substituting one or two graphic 
novels for real novels or dramas.

There are only so many hours in the day and every hour spent viewing a 
graphic novel is one less spendable reading Hamlet, or Lear, or 
Dostoyevski, or even Jasper Fforde.  Since it is the rare dog that 
praises its own fleas, we can scratch to acknowledge the presence of 
this tribute to declining literacy skills without making it into a 
welcomed companion.

JVK

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