Elaine Martin

‘I’ for iconoclasm: graphic novels and the (re)presentation of terrorism

This article considers a ‘new-old’ media – that is, a relatively newly created medium with deep historical roots – that has gained increasing popularity in recent years: a subgenre of the comic book, most often referred to as the graphic novel. Presented here as an antidote to dominant interpretations of political violence ranging from the state terrorism of the Holocaust to the events of 9/11, the article briefly traces the history of graphic novels and details their growing popularity before describing and analysing representations of terrorism, both written and visual, in eight paradigmatic works that purvey variously victim, survivor and perpetrator perspectives.

Terrorism, humor, and American popular culture

Terrorism has been reflected in popular culture in the past decade in a variety of ways – ranging from newspaper comics, magazine pieces, and graphic novels to feature-length films, television mini-series, and stand-up comic routines. Many of these treat the subject with gravitas. Within this overall context, works that use humor to approach the topic of terrorism have been somewhat slower to appear. In this paper I consider four different examples involving the use of humor: (1) comics (syndicated newspaper comic strips and magazine cartoons); (2) a magazine parody; (3) feature-length films; and (4) a standup comedy routine. A detailed analysis of the types of humor relies on Bergson’s essay Le rire (Laughter, 1911) – for example, on his understanding of the mechanisms of repetition, inversion, and reciprocal interference, as well as the important distinction between irony and humor (how the ideal and reality interact). All of the examples of humor considered here represent attempts to cope with, confront, comment on, and even contain the potential danger represented by terrorism. In his essay, Bergson discusses three types of comedy: of situations, characters, and language. Some of the subcategories for these three types overlap. In situational comedy we might have repetition, inversion of situations or roles, and reciprocal interference. According to Bergson, in the latter instance: ‘A situation is invariably comic when it belongs simultaneously to two altogether independent series of events and is capable of being interpreted in two entirely different meanings at the same time’ (1911: 28). For this to be humorous, the viewer must, of course, be in on the double entendre. Under comedy of character, Bergson notably mentions gestures and automatism. Whereas actions are conscious, he argues, gestures are unconscious and can slip out unintentionally. Automatism is related and centers on obliviousness (lack of self-knowledge) or rigidity. In the third type of comedy, that of language, Bergson distinguishes among verbal inversion, reciprocal interference, and transposition into a different register. Bergson notes the humor inherent in parody (transposing the solemn into the familiar) or exaggeration (transposing the

Issues in teaching terrorism as cultural artefact

From a humanities course on terrorism that focuses on how terrorist ideology and acts are transformed into cultural artefacts, several pedagogical–theoretical issues have emerged: the incongruity of viewing terrorist violence as art; 9/11 as an ahistorical event; the impossibility of defining terrorism; the infiltration (trivialisation?) of terrorism into popular culture; subgenres of terrorist works, each with its own paradigm; and the iconoclastic potential of many terrorist texts and films. These issues have implications for the curricular design of terrorism courses and for the role of instructors – in academia and in the larger community.

Women Without a Past? German Autobiographical Writings and Fascism (review)

terin und HolocaustOpfer. Beim Lesen stellt sich hier die Frage: Warum verlängert Kühn das alte, längst überholte Muster, die Dichterin Gertrud Kolmar mit ihrem Œuvre könne letztendlich nur im Vergleich oder im Kontrast bestehen? Das Fazit: Kühns Buch erhält seine Relevanz vor allem dadurch, dass es auf über sechshundert Seiten eindringlich den Aufstieg und Fall einer assimilierten Berliner Familie in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts aufzeigt. Als Referenz für die KolmarForschung ist Kühns Buch nur mit Vorsicht zu genießen: Zu oft durchdringen Kühns eigene Refl exionen und Assoziationen Kolmars Leben, Gedichte werden oft nur von der Biographie her gelesen, auch die Bibliographie mit nachgewiesenen Quellen ist äußerst dürftig. Doch als solche hat es der Autor auch nicht geschrieben. Kühns Familienchronik bleibt am Ende ein stellenweise in Stereotypen befangener, jedoch oftmals auch äußerst gelungener Versuch, Gertrud Kolmar der allgemeinen Öffentlichkeit näher zu bringen.