13 - Visualizing the World

Summary

This chapter considers how the rising interest in human rights, humanitarianism, and the humanities has coincided with the arrival of the graphic novel as an object of serious attention in literary studies. To notable effect, comics and graphic novels have in turn taken human rights crises as a central thematic concern: works such as Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Magdy El Shafee’s Metro, and the comics of Joe Sacco have all brought international attention to the violence of war, occupation, and political corruption. Paying particular attention to the conjunction of visual, narrative, and textual representations that takes place in the genre, this chapter considers the way in which the graphic novel has taken up both documentary and advocacy functions in regards to human rights.