Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative - ISSN 1780-678X
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Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative - ISSN 1780-678X |
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Unpopular Culture. Transforming the European Comic Book in the 1990s. |
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Author: Pascal Lefèvre Beaty, Bart, Unpopular Culture. Transforming the European Comic Book in the 1990s. |
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The author of Unpopular Culture. Transforming the European Comic Book in the 1990s is not only an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Communication and Culture at the University of Calgary but is also responsible for introducing American comics fans to new European comics in the monthly The Comics Journal. From the outset the author makes his point clear: Unpopular Culture is "a book about oppositions - cultural, ideological, social, national and, aesthetic oppositions" and "about how these oppositions structure our understanding of art" (p. 3). More specifically he sees a tension between comic books conceived as popular culture and comic books conceptualised as art, or the tension - described by Bourdieu - between the two differing concepts of legitimacy: the heteronomous principle of the marketplace in which commercial success equals quality, versus the autonomous principle of artistic creation. Yet, as the book evolves, these notions become increasingly problematic. Even the author remarks briefly (p. 54) that even the books produced by the so-called (but never really defined) small press are "self-evidently commercial enterprises", and in the end he has to acknowledge that "the boundaries between small and large presses have become increasingly irrelevant over a short period of time" (p. 201) The tendency of artists such as Sfar, Guibert or Blain to exist in both 'markets' problematizes the rigidity of Bourdieu's formulation (p. 203). One of interesting aspects of this book is that it demonstrates that the situation of alternative European comics is genuinely complex, despite the internal contradictions. Beaty's central hypothesis is that the transformation of European comics in the 1990s revolved around a destabilization of the concept of the literary (the book) and a renewed emphasis on the visual (the image) (p. 249), or in other words, the evolution from a criterion of value with its basis in the novel to one rooted in the artist's book (p. 7). Yet, one has to wonder if this is too partial a reading of the history of comics before 1990. For example, Beaty sees a turn to the visual in comics by incorporating techniques borrowed from the fine arts; but the history of graphic narratives is directly linked to the graphical methods of the fine arts (etching, woodcut...), not to mention that in the era of mass production one can point to titles such as Frans Masereel's woodcut picture book Die Stadt (1925). Therefore Beaty's claim that it is only for the first time possible to conceptualise within the field of comic book production a space for innovative and avant-garde cultural practices, implies a neglect of important avant-garde creations before 1990: think a.o. of Alberto Breccia,Yoshiharu Tsuge, Martin Vaughn-James, Alex Barbier... For a book that claims that the visual is crucial to the new comics, it is disappointing to find only 26 black and white illustrations of reduced size. Though Beaty has made a lot of effort to grasp and understand a field as vast as Europe (by including also small production countries like Portugal and Finland), this is ultimately an impossible task for one person. For instance in his chapter on autobiography, he limits his examples of the European forerunners only to French authors, whereas it is also true that in other countries such as Spain crucial autobiographical works were produced in the 1970's (by Enric Sió, Luis García, Carlos Giménez). That Beaty as a Canadian has a good knowledge of French differentiates him from most of his North American colleagues, but in the rendition of other European languages or author's names errors creep in (Pratt's Una Ballata del mare salato becomes La Balada su il mare salato, p. 25, 'Marcos Pellejota' instead of 'Marcos Farrajota'). It is striking to see that the first academic work on contemporary European comics comes from the other side of the Atlantic, which offers probably a less nationalistic and more distant perspective. Beaty's book contains some good close readings of relevant alternative comic books, he rightly pinpoints the important reconceptualization of the notion of comic book (new formats and shapes) and he takes great care in defining most of his terminology (especially interesting is his discussion of the term 'avant-garde'). Though, unfortunately, he forgets to define clearly one of his central concepts, namely 'small press'. Enlightening, too, is his contrasting comparison between the American 'conventions' and the European comics festivals. All in all, this is a must-have for everyone who wants an introduction to 'alternative' European comics from the 1990s on and, at least, a starting point for discussion. Let's hope also other authors will research this very interesting terrain. |
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