The Representation of Genocide in Graphic Novels: Considering the Role of Kitsch (Palgrave Studies in Comics and Graphic Novels)

This book mobilises the concept of kitsch to investigate the tensions around the representation of genocide in international graphic novels that focus on the Holocaust and the genocides in Armenia, Rwanda, and Bosnia. In response to the predominantly negative readings of kitsch as meaningless or inappropriate, this book offers a fresh approach that considers how some of the kitsch strategies employed in these works facilitate an affective interaction with the genocide narrative. These productive strategies include the use of the visual metaphors of the animal and the doll figure and the explicit and excessive depictions of mass violence. The book also analyses where kitsch still produces problems as it critically examines depictions of perpetrators and the visual and verbal representations of sexual violence. Furthermore, it explores how graphic novels employ anti-kitsch strategies to avoid the dangers of excess in dealing with genocide. __The Representation of Genocide in Graphic Novels__ will appeal to those working in comics-graphic novel studies, popular culture studies, and Holocaust and genocide studies. Acknowledgements 6 Contents 8 List of Figures 9 Chapter 1 Introduction: Graphic Novels, Genocide, Kitsch 10 Scope and Boundaries 13 Early Representations of Genocide in Comics 17 Theorising Graphic Novels and Kitsch 22 Chapter Overview 36 References 41 Chapter 2 (In)human Visual Metaphors: The Animal and the Doll 50 Animal (De)constructions 51 Animals as Distancing Device 58 The (In)animated State of the Doll Figure 68 Doll/Animal Hybrid 77 Visual Tropes and the Performance of Innocence 81 Conclusion 85 References 87 Chapter 3 From Gruesome to Grey: The Moralisation of Perpetrators 91 Evil Nazis in Graphic Novels 92 Excessive Perpetrators 98 Grey Areas and Nuancing Gestures 111 Sacco: Negotiating the Two Tendencies 119 Conclusion 126 References 130 Chapter 4 Visualising Mass Violence and Sexual Violence 135 Excess and Repetition in Judenhass and Auschwitz 136 The Presence and Absence of Sexual Violence 158 Conclusion 174 References 178 Chapter 5 Modernism and Historical Accuracy: Anti-Kitsch Strategies 183 Modernist Forms of Witnessing 184 Paratextual Anchors of Knowledge 202 Conclusion 214 References 217 Chapter 6 Conclusion 220 References 225 Index 226 Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction: Graphic Novels, Genocide, Kitsch (Laurike in ’t Veld)....Pages 1-40 (In)human Visual Metaphors: The Animal and the Doll (Laurike in ’t Veld)....Pages 41-81 From Gruesome to Grey: The Moralisation of Perpetrators (Laurike in ’t Veld)....Pages 83-126 Visualising Mass Violence and Sexual Violence (Laurike in ’t Veld)....Pages 127-174 Modernism and Historical Accuracy: Anti-Kitsch Strategies (Laurike in ’t Veld)....Pages 175-211 Conclusion (Laurike in ’t Veld)....Pages 213-218 Back Matter ....Pages 219-230 This book offers a new perspective on issues around genocide representation through the lens of kitsch, which is an under-examined concept in comics scholarship and genocide representation studies.