If you’re a fan of George Herriman’s seminal comic strip Krazy Kat, then a new online course from the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research may just be of interest.
From 25th January to 15th February, the Institute is offering a four-week online course, “Krazy Kat: Comics, Modernism, and Popular Culture”, taught by Dr. Rebecca Ariel Porte.
The scenario is simple: cat loves mouse, mouse throws brick at cat, police dog claps mouse in jail. George Herriman’s Krazy Kat, a massy, virtuosic work of modernist comics, builds on the structure of a love triangle a whole world of surreal visual experimentation, linguistic play, social critique, and every possible kind of laughter.
Set in a dreamy version of Coconino County, Arizona, Krazy Kat ran in daily US newspapers between 1913 and 1944. Its poetry is singular, its invention matchless. How did this run of comics by a working newspaper illustrator born to mixed-race, Creole parents in New Orleans become a touchstone across the cultural spectrum, from avant-garde modernism to ballet to contemporary poetry and sequential art?
In this course, an introduction to the world of Krazy Kat, as well as a broader exploration of the critical and aesthetic power of comics, you’ll read selections from its 31 year run alongside its modernist contexts in art, poetry, music, film, and criticism.
The syllabus will also feature contemporary theories of literature, comics, and visuality. How did Herriman invent Krazy Kat’s distinctive style? How does that style relate to the experiments of modernism and popular culture of the early 20th century? What do these comics have to say about race and radicalisation, especially given the fraught legacy of Herriman’s own relationship to his heritage?
What should we make of gender fluidity in these comics? What about love, desire, and violence? How can we understand the intricate worldbuilding of Coconino County with its odd, poetic dialect and its otherworldly depiction of the American southwest?
And, finally, why have figures ranging from e.e. cummings and Will Eisner to Monica Youn and Chris Ware found Krazy Kat such a generative text?
Supplementary materials are likely to include Eyal Amiran, Benjamin, Hillary Chute, Cummings, Sianne Ngai, Gilbert Seldes, Michael Tisserand, Ware, and Youn.
The Brooklyn Institute is an interdisciplinary teaching and research institute that offers critical, community-based education in the humanities and social sciences. Working in partnership with local businesses and cultural organizations, we integrate rigorous but accessible scholarly study with the everyday lives of working adults and re-imagine scholarship for the 21st century.
Course Schedule: Monday, 6.30 – 9.30pm ET | 25th January — 15th February 2021
With thanks to Paul Gravett
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comics Studies, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, US Comics
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