Text/Image Mosaics in French Culture

Emblems and Comic Strips

Laurance Grove, Professor Martin Stannard, Professor Greg Walker

$284

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Routledge
28 November 2005

Renaissance art; History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -; Mosaics: artworks; Graphic design; Comic book & cartoon art

Series: Studies in European Cultural Transition

This study compares text/image interaction as manifested in emblem books (and related forms) and the modern bande dessinée, or French-language comic strip. It moves beyond the issue of defining the emblematic genre to examine the ways in which emblems - and their modern counterparts - interact with the surrounding culture, and what they disclose about that culture.

Drawing largely on primary material from the Bibliothèque nationale de France and from Glasgow University Library's Stirling Maxwell Collection of emblem literature, Laurence Grove builds on the ideas of Marshall McLuhan, Elizabeth Eisenstein and, more recently, Neil Rhodes and Jonathan Sawday. Divided into four sections-Theoretics, Production, Thematics and Reception-Text/Image Mosaics in French Culture broaches topics such as theoretical approaches (past and present) to text/image forms, the question of narrative within the scope of text/image creations, and the reuse of visual iconography for diametrically opposed political or religious purposes.

The author argues that, despite the gap in time between the advent of emblems and that of comic strips, the two forms are analogous, in that both are the products of a 'parallel mentality'. The mindsets of the periods that popularised these forms have certain common features related to repeated social conditions rather than to the pure evolution over time. Grove's analysis and historical contextualisation of that mentality provide insight into our own popular culture forms, not only the comic strip but also other hybrid media such as advertising and the Internet. His juxtaposition of emblems and the bande dessinée increases our understanding of all such combinations of picture and text.

By: Laurance Grove
Series edited by: Professor Martin Stannard, Professor Greg Walker
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: New edition
Volume: No. 32
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 566g
ISBN: 9780754634881
ISBN 10: 0754634884
Series: Studies in European Cultural Transition
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 28 November 2005
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Contents: Foreword; Introduction: Text/image forms; The emblem; The bande dessinée; Previous critical approaches. Theoretics: 'Nemo nescit picturam esse poÃ«ma tacens ...'; The ninth art of France. Production: Moveable woodcuts; Mickey, or Le Journal de Mickey?. Thematics: Capricious cupids; Where have all the Nazis gone?. Reception: From moveable mosaic...; ...To moving images. Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Laurence Grove is Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Glasgow, UK, having previously studied and taught at the University of Pittsburgh, The Newberry Library and Middlebury College, Vermont, USA.

Reviews for Text/Image Mosaics in French Culture: Emblems and Comic Strips

'By taking a fresh perspective on bande dessinee history, Grove casts new light on the father of comics Rodolphe TApffer, and asks uncomfortable questions about the French industry in the 1940s and 50s.' Roger Sabin, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, UK '... the author's refreshingly keen interest in text/image genres is evident throughout... he has read widely in the emblematic corpus of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His knowledge of French comics seem equally broad... ' Renaissance Quarterly 'One of the principal strengths of Laurence Grove's Text/Image Mosaics in French Culture is its author's refusal to accept unquestioningly any received ideas regarding the history of the comic... This is a highly readable study by an author who has confident mastery of the diverse, even heterogeneous range of material under consideration. In relation to the BD itself, Grove moves far beyond an often excessively restricted canon to give a clear sense of the genre's historical texture. At the same time, he focuses on under-explored key titles... The argument is consistently well illustrated...' Modern Language Review