Publisher Description

Publisher Description

The Jewish Graphic Novel is a lively, interdisciplinary collection of essays that addresses critically acclaimed works in this subgenre of Jewish literary and artistic culture. Featuring insightful discussions of notable figures in the industryùsuch as Will Eisner, Art Spiegelman, and Joann Sfarùthe essays focus on the how graphic novels are increasingly being used in Holocaust memoir and fiction, and to portray Jewish identity in America and abroad

The cat has been occupying a prominent place in our homes and at our sides for many years. It is normal to come across him at any time in our literature or when visiting a website. Sometimes he occupies the central place and there are many books that have been devoted to him, sometimes by writers less well known than their companions... Other times, he is just making the scene more lively, more truthful, because without him, where would be the soul of our home? Through these quotes, you will first travel in time, across regions religions and cultures: the Bible, Einstein, Mahomet, Queen Elisabeth II, Shakespeare, Agatha Christie and many others. This little journey into the heart of wisdom or in the company of famous personalities will give you all the delights that our fourlegged friends deserve. And at the heart of all these treasures, I'm sure you will find valuable thoughts to illuminate your every day.

The cat and the dog have been occupying a prominent place in our homes and at our sides for many years. It is normal to come across them at any time in our literature or when visiting a website. Sometimes they occupy the central place and there are many books that have been devoted to them, sometimes by writers less well known than their companions... Other times, they are just making the scene more lively, more truthful, because without them, where would be the soul of our homes? Through these quotes, you will first travel in time, across regions religions and cultures: the Bible, Einstein, Mahomet, Queen Elisabeth II, Shakespeare, Agatha Christie and many others. This little journey into the heart of wisdom or in the company of famous personalities will give you all the delights that our fourlegged friends deserve. And at the heart of all these treasures, I'm sure you will find valuable thoughts to illuminate your every day. His life in a familly of Egyptian Maus and King Charles Spaniels made him sensitive to the deepness of the thoughts of our favorite 4-legs. Didier HALLÉPÉE shares with us the many quotations he met in the over ten thousand books he could read.

Contributions by Ofra Amihay, Madeline Backus, Samantha Baskind, Elizabeth Rae Coody, Scott S. Elliott, Assaf Gamzou, Susan Handelman, Leah Hochman, Leonard V. Kaplan, Ken Koltun-Fromm, Shiamin Kwa, Samantha Langsdale, A. David Lewis, Karline McLain, Ranen Omer-Sherman, Joshua Plencner, and Jeffrey L. Richey Comics and Sacred Texts explores how comics and notions of the sacred interweave new modes of seeing and understanding the sacral. Comics and graphic narratives help readers see religion in the everyday and in depictions of God, in transfigured, heroic selves as much as in the lives of saints and the meters of holy languages. Coeditors Assaf Gamzou and Ken Koltun-Fromm reveal the graphic character of sacred narratives, imagining new vistas for both comics and religious texts. In both visual and linguistic forms, graphic narratives reveal representational strategies to encounter the sacred in all its ambivalence. Through close readings and critical inquiry, these essays contemplate the intersections between religion and comics in ways that critically expand our ability to think about religious landscapes, rhetorical practices, pictorial representation, and the everyday experiences of the uncanny. Organized into four sections—Seeing the Sacred in Comics; Reimagining Sacred Texts through Comics; Transfigured Comic Selves, Monsters, and the Body; and The Everyday Sacred in Comics—the essays explore comics and graphic novels ranging from Craig Thompson’s Habibi and Marvel’s X-Men and Captain America to graphic adaptions of religious texts such as 1 Samuel and the Gospel of Mark. Comics and Sacred Texts shows how claims to the sacred are nourished and concealed in comic narratives. Covering many religions, not only Christianity and Judaism, this rare volume contests the profane/sacred divide and establishes the import of comics and graphic narratives in disclosing the presence of the sacred in everyday human experience.

Comics traffic in stereotypes, which can translate into real danger, as was the case when, in 2015, two Muslim gunmen opened fire at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, which had published depictions of Islam and Muhammad perceived by many to be blasphemous. As a response to that tragedy, Ken Koltun-Fromm calls for us to expand our moral imaginations through readings of graphic religious narratives. Utilizing a range of comic books and graphic novels, including R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis Illustrated, Craig Thompson’s Blankets, the Vakil brothers’ 40 Sufi Comics, and Ms. Marvel, Koltun-Fromm argues that representing religion in these formats is an ethical issue. By focusing on the representation of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu religious traditions, the comics discussed in this book bear witness to the ethical imagination, the possibilities of traversing religious landscapes, and the problematic status of racial, classed, and gendered characterizations of religious persons. Koltun-Fromm explores what religious stereotypes do and how they function in comics in ways that might expand or diminish our imaginative worlds. The pedagogical challenge, he argues, is to linger in that space and see those worlds well, with both ethical sensitivity and moral imagination. Accessibly written and vibrantly illustrated, this book sheds new light on the ways in which comic arts depict religious faith and culture. It will appeal to students and scholars of religion, literature, and comic studies.