Description
Trudeau is arguably the premier American political and social satirist of the last forty years. Amazingly, he achieved this on the comics page, rather than the editorial page. By defying convention, Trudeau has established a hybrid form of popular satire that capitalizes on the narrative continuity and broad reach of the comic strip form, while operating according to the rules of combative political commentary.
Garry Trudeau: ""Doonesbury"" and the Aesthetics of Satire is divided into chapters that offer a history of Doonesbury; an analysis of Trudeau's effective satiric methods; a discussion of the methods whereby he challenged the business practices of the comic strip industry; an examination of the aesthetics of Doonesbury; and a consideration of Trudeau's significance as a social chronicler through an analysis of his character construction, narrative practices, and documentation of the American zeitgeist. Garry Trudeau is a thorough assessment of one of America's most popular and controversial cartoonists.
About the Author
Kerry D. Soper is director of the American studies program and associate professor of humanities, classics, and comparative literature at Brigham Young University. His work has appeared in the Journal of American Studies, International Journal of Comic Art, INKS: Cartoon and Comic Art Studies, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and other periodicals.
Reviews
"Trudeau's notoriety is something to be celebrated. The controversy surrounding his strip has been a sign, perhaps, that he is actually effective at doing his job. The great satirists throughout history - Swift, Voltaire, Hogarth... - were given great license to challenge leaders and criticize the social order; and if they did not annoy political leaders or irk their audiences at times while using this license, then we would not place them in that pantheon of great cultural critics." -from the introduction"
Book Information
ISBN 9781934110898
Author Kerry D. Soper
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint University Press of Mississippi
Publisher University Press of Mississippi
Series Great Comics Artists Series
Weight(grams) 337g