Goal: Find German language comics in library catalog
1. Use the library catalog (library.williams.edu) to locate comics by authors you are discussing in class (see course description to the right)
2. Keep track of your search strategy (to be able to explain what you did)
3. From one book (catalog record) how can you find more similar books?
Be prepared to discuss your findings and discoveries.
The goal of this advanced course is to study language and culture through the exploration of German-language comics. Despite the boom in the production of comics since the reunification and the appearance of numerous talented artists in the German speaking world, German comics remain largely unknown and unrecognized abroad. This course seeks to introduce students to this rich, active genre and to deepen their understanding of it by allowing them to engage with its broad spectrum of subjects and styles. The course will address a variety of recent comics ranging from graphic novels by Nora Krug, Olivia Vieweg to literary comics by Flix, Isabel Kreitz, as well as historical comics by Simon Schwartz and Reinhardt Kleist. What are the recurrent themes in German comics? What kind of current political issues do these comics raise and what type of contemporary anxieties do they express? These are some of the questions the course seeks to answer. This course is conducted entirely in German.