Through a selection of twenty-first century Spanish graphic novels, this module will introduce students to the boom in new, hybrid textual and visual narratives, operating within a wider cultural environment. Students will learn how medium-specific features can influence how these narratives unfold through fictional and graphic texts developed from non-fictional contexts to express in new ways current social, historical, and political concerns in Spain. Paying attention to literary and aesthetic responses in relation to historical memory, trauma, national identity, economic, and ecological issues affecting Spain, this module will enable students to think critically in light of relevant theories that have been developed based on the growing production of graphic novels in a global context. The module will be approached from an interdisciplinary perspective, relying on studies of memory, trauma, psychoanalysis, gender and sexuality, cultural studies, and political history focusing on contemporary Spain.
