Faculty Publication: Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures Shiamin Kwa
Life Writing in Comics
Author: Shiamin Kwa
Source: Cambridge Companion to Comics, edited by Maaheen Ahmed, published by Cambridge University Press, 2023
Type of Publication: Chapter in a book
Description: The Cambridge Companion to Comics presents comics as a multifaceted prism, generating productive and insightful dialogues with the most salient issues concerning the humanities at large. This volume provides readers with the histories and theories necessary for studying comics. It consists of three sections: Forms maps the most significant comics forms, including material formats and techniques. Readings brings together a selection of tools to equip readers with a critical understanding of comics. Uses examines the roles accorded to comics in museums, galleries, and education. Chapters explore comics through several key aspects, including drawing, serialities, adaptation, transmedia storytelling, issues of stereotyping and representation, and the lives of comics in institutional and social settings. This volume emphasizes the relationship between comics and other media and modes of expression. It offers close readings of vital works, covering more than a century of comics production and extending across visual, literary and cultural disciplines. Professor Kwa’s contribution analyzes the work of John Porcellino and questions of memoir, life writing, and its relation to serial forms. An electronic copy of the book can be accessed online through Tripod at the shared link.
Shiamin Kwa is co-chair and professor of East Asian languages and cultures and co-director of comparative literature.