M Bande dessinée has variously as visual narrative art. How How have different artists subjectivity and the body. I been considered a danger to can its formal resources figured historical memory What psychic dramas are L L literacy and morals, and an be analyzed? Can narrative and amnesia in relation enacted within the walls E R art form worthy of prestigious theories be profitably applied to the Algerian war? And of Moulinsart? How does national centres in France and to the medium? Why may which artists offer textbook autobiographical work Belgium. The first section of bande dessinée be described illustrations of the cultural construct a textual self out this book retraces the history as a postmodernist art form practices that distinguish of both images and words? of the medium, and sets it in par excellence? prolos, petit bourgeois, And how have female the context of debates around The third section bobos and the new artists defied dominant cultural legitimization. takes a cultural studies managerial bourgeoisie? representations of the body? The second section approach. How does Astérix The final section looks at focuses on bande dessinée mythologize Frenchness? bande dessinée in relation to RR EE AA DD II NN GG BB AA NN DD EE DD EE SS Dr Ann Miller is a lecturer ‘The work provides both SS at the University of Leicester. a key analysis for scholars II She has published widely of the bande dessinée, NN on bande dessinée, and has as well as a manual for taken a particular interest in the work produced by a modern application of ÉÉ critical theory.’ independent publishing EE collectives since the 1990s. – Dr Laurence Grove, University of Glasgow intellect / www.intellectbooks.com Reading Bandee.qxd 26/9/07 3:41 pm Page 1 Reading bande dessinée: Critical Approaches to French-language Comic Strip Ann Miller Reading Bandee.qxd 26/9/07 3:41 pm Page 2 Reading Bandee.qxd 26/9/07 3:41 pm Page 3 Reading bande dessinée: Critical Approaches to French-language Comic Strip Ann Miller (cid:94)(cid:99)(cid:105)(cid:90)(cid:97)(cid:97)(cid:90)(cid:88)(cid:105) (cid:55)(cid:103)(cid:94)(cid:104)(cid:105)(cid:100)(cid:97)(cid:33)(cid:74)(cid:64)(cid:16)(cid:56)(cid:93)(cid:94)(cid:88)(cid:86)(cid:92)(cid:100)(cid:33)(cid:74)(cid:72)(cid:54) First Published in the UK in 2007 by Intellect Books, PO Box 862, Bristol BS99 1DE, UK First published in the USA in 2007 by Intellect Books, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA Copyright © 2007 Intellect Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Cover Design: Gabriel Solomons Copy Editor: Holly Spradling Typesetting: Mac Style, Nafferton, E. Yorkshire ISBN 978-1-84150-177-2/EISBN 978-184150-996-9 Printed and bound by the Gutenberg Press, Malta Reading Bandee.qxd 26/9/07 3:41 pm Page 5 C ONTENTS Acknowledgements 7 Introduction 9 PART 1 11 The History of bande dessinée 13 1. From the Nineteenth Century to the 1960s: bande dessinéeBecomes a Children’s Medium, and then Starts to Grow Up 15 2. The 1970s: Expansion and Experimentation 25 3. The 1980s: Recuperation by the Mainstream 33 4. From the 1990s to the Twenty-First Century: The Return of the Independent Sector 49 PART 2 71 Analytical Frameworks 73 5. The Codes and Formal Resources of bande dessinée 75 6. Narrative Theory and bande dessinée 103 7. Bande dessinéeas PostmodernistArt Form 125 PART 3 147 ACultural Studies Approach to bande dessinée 149 Reading Bandee.qxd 26/9/07 3:41 pm Page 6 6 |READING BANDE DESSINÉE 8. National Identity 151 9. Postcolonial Identities 165 10. Social Class and Masculinity 179 PART 4 197 Bande dessinéeand subjectivity 199 11. Psychoanalytic Approaches to Tintin 201 12. Autobiography and Diary Writing in bande dessinée 215 13. Gender and Autobiography 229 Notes 243 Appendix 247 Bibliography 249 Index 265 Reading Bandee.qxd 26/9/07 3:41 pm Page 7 A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS Iwould like to thank the many friends and colleagues whose interest and encouragement has helped in the writing of this book. Hugh Starkey introduced me to bande dessinéein the first place, and has always been a thoughtful interlocutor. I have also benefited from the advice and critical support of Peter Fawcett, Phil Powrie and Keith Reader. The solidarity and scholarship of fellow members of the International Bande DessinéeSociety have been much appreciated, and I am particularly grateful to Teresa Bridgeman, Laurence Grove, Dominique Le Duc, Wendy Michallat and Murray Pratt. Scholars from North America have widened my perspective on bande dessinée, and I would like to thank Bart Beaty, Mark McKinney and ClareTufts for sharing their insights with me. Many thanks too to Vittorio Frigerio, who published amuchearlier version of parts of Chapter 13 in BelphegorVol. 4 No1,November 2004. Like all those who work in the field of bande dessinée, I owe a considerable debt of gratitude to Jan Baetens, Thierry Groensteen, Bruno Lecigne, Pascal Lefèvre and Benoît Peeters, whose views I hope not to have misrepresented in the following pages. A number of bande dessinée artists have been generous with their time and their expertise, including Baru, Charles Berberian, Frank Margerin, Jean-Christophe Menu, Chantal Montellier, Fabrice Neaud and Tanitoc. Needless to say, none of the above should be held responsible for anything that I have written. Iwould also liketo acknowledge the support of colleagues in the School of Modern Languages at the University of Leicester, and the University itself for the granting of a semester of study leave. I have, in addition, relied greatly on the unfailing efficiency of the librarians at the University of Leicester and the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée. Sam King at Intellect has been a great help through the process of producing the manuscript. To Tim and Chris, thanks for IT back-up and moral support, and to Malcolm for sanity, his own and most of mine. Tintin and Milou, thanks for sitting on all those first drafts. Reading Bandee.qxd 26/9/07 3:41 pm Page 8 Reading Bandee.qxd 26/9/07 3:41 pm Page 9 I NTRODUCTION This book is for students of French-language comic strip, or bande dessinée, and for more general readers. It is divided into four sections, which offer four different ways of approaching the medium, associated with different theoretical perspectives. Frameworks for analysis are made veryexplicit, and no prior knowledge of terminology is assumed. The first part offers a historical overview, with the longest and most detailed section being devoted to contemporary bande dessinée, emphasizing the artistic impact of independent publishing houses since the 1990s. The historyof the medium is in partthe history of its struggle for legitimacy,and each chapter includes a section which considers the evolution of the cultural status of bande dessinéeand of the theoretical approaches applied to it. The second part offers frameworks within which to analyse the formal features of bande dessinée. It is based on a case-study approach, so that the terms and concepts introduced in each chapter are predominantly exemplified from one album, or, in the case of Chapter 7, one series. Chapter 5 introduces basic terms and concepts of analysis for the study of sequential visual narration and text-image relations;Chapter 6 draws on narrative theory, and Chapter 7 considers the potential of bande dessinéeas a postmodernist art. The thirdpart adopts a cultural studies approach to the medium, discussing bande dessinéein relation to questions of identity. Chapter 8 focuses on national identity, Chapter 9 on postcolonial identities and Chapter 10on the intersection of class and masculinity. Each chapter begins by resuming relevant theoretical issues, before offering detailed case studies of a small number of albums. Readers looking for Astérix in this book will find him in Chapter 8, which presents a survey of the multiple ways in which the character, and the series, have been taken to represent Frenchness. The fourth part considers the representation of subjectivity and the body in bande dessinée. Readers seeking Tintin will find him in Chapter 11, which offers a critical discussion of the way