The Graphic Novel (ELT266)

ELT266 The Graphic Novel introduces students to the graphic novel as a complex literary form. It begins by teaching essential visual grammar and formal analysis techniques for close reading. Students apply key literary theories, including Narratology, to major genres like autobiography and adaptation. The module consolidates the study of global comics and critical approaches to themes of identity and canonicity. The final unit examines the Singapore Graphic Novel, analysing local history, social themes, and the digital future of the medium.

• Fundamental terms: panel, gutter, balloon, caption
• The reader’s role in closure
• Understanding narrative time and implied motion
• Visual language and page layout
• Story, discourse and plot
• The narrator and narrational agents
• The memoir and biography graphic novel
• The literary adaptation graphic novel
• Intertextuality and genre
• Global perspective: manga and manhwa
• The Singapore graphic novel
• The future of graphic novel: webcomics

• Identify and define the core formal elements of graphic narrative and explain their cognitive function in generating narrative meaning and closure.
• Apply advanced literary concepts (Story/Discourse, focalisation, unreliable narration) to the multimodal structure of graphic novels.
• Differentiate between major graphic novel genres and apply relevant critical theories (Feminist, Critical Race) to the texts.
• Demonstrate close readings of a comic page.
• Explain how narrative is transformed when stories are adapted from prose to graphic forms.
• Examine visual and textual data to formulate original academic arguments using evidence drawn from both the visual elements and the written text of a graphic novel.