{"product_id":"openness-of-comics-generating-meaning-within-flexible-structures-paperback","title":"Openness of Comics: Generating Meaning Within Flexible Structures - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMaaheen Ahmed\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNever before have comics seemed so popular or diversified, proliferating across a broad spectrum of genres, experimenting with a variety of techniques, and gaining recognition as a legitimate, rich form of art. Maaheen Ahmed examines this trend by taking up philosopher Umberto Eco's notion of the open work of art, whereby the reader--or listener or viewer, as the case may be--is offered several possibilities of interpretation in a cohesive narrative and aesthetic structure. Ahmed delineates the visual, literary, and other medium-specific features used by comics to form open rather than closed works, methods by which comics generate or limit meaning as well as increase and structure the scope of reading into a work.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAhmed analyzes a diverse group of British, American, and European (Franco-Belgian, German, Finnish) comics. She treats examples from the key genre categories of fictionalized memoirs and biographies, adventure and superhero, noir, black comedy and crime, science fiction and fantasy. Her analyses demonstrate the ways in which comics generate openness by concentrating on the gaps essential to the very medium of comics, the range of meaning ensconced within words and images as well as their interaction with each other.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe analyzed comics, extending from famous to lesser known works, include Will Eisner's The Contract with God Trilogy, Jacques Tardi's It Was the War of the Trenches, Hugo Pratt's The Ballad of the Salty Sea, Edmond Baudoin's The Voyage, Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's Arkham Asylum, Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's From Hell, Moebius's Arzach, Yslaire's Cloud 99 series, and Jarmo Mäkilä's Taxi Ride to Van Gogh's Ear.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMaaheen Ahmed\u003c\/b\u003e is associate professor of comparative literature at Ghent University, Belgium, and a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO). Ahmed is author of \u003ci\u003eMonstrous Imaginaries: The Legacy of Romanticism in Comics, \u003c\/i\u003epublished by University Press of Mississippi. She has also published articles in and edited special issues for \u003ci\u003eEuropean Comic Art\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eAuthorship\u003c\/i\u003e;\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eSCAN: Journal of Media Arts Culture\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eEuropean Journal of American Studies\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eInternational Journal of Comic Art\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 240\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.55 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e February 01, 2019\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42117235802247,"sku":"9781496820181","price":63.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/de7b5c1efce3a71e0d1c06ec3a010eea.webp?v=1732522645","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/openness-of-comics-generating-meaning-within-flexible-structures-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}