Call for Papers

Graphic Novel

 

A child of the (post)modern world, a hybrid genre, transgressive, defiant, lacking tradition, recognition or firm conceptual validation - as things are still in the process of being legitimised - the graphic novel is undoubtedly a challenge for the simple reading enthusiast and the specialist alike. The growing, undeniable impact it has on the book market, however, is undermining the need to rethink and refine definitions, explanations and illustrations that make it easier to understand, validate or circumscribe the concept of a literary work, or even of an artistic work in general. Both the critic and the ordinary reader can feel irritated by this "impostor", half text, half drawing (comic strip), who also claims, quite often, the celebrity of the original he "parasitizes". The graphic novel would then be, some would say, nothing but kitsch, generated by the need for vulgarisation, simplification, for a public that no longer has the time or the inclination for intellectual activities that are too demanding; it would not be surprising, say the same voices, that it proliferates mainly in hyper-industrialised societies. At the opposite pole, others believe that the species is more a reflection of the complex process of interpreting a text, of appropriating it by rewriting it and graphically imposing hermeneutic boundaries. But beyond these contested views, the graphic novel is a creation in its own right, born precisely out of a desire to open up, to harness the mutual empowerment of the arts, of generations of reader-readers with extremely varied profiles. In the contemporary cultural context, the species also takes up the debates and controversies that have always accompanied the novel, in its modern form, from the beginning of its appearance to the present day: the same difficulty in defining it, the same theoretical impasse in which it places its interpreters, the same dependence on actuality, which forces it, as it were, into a perpetual metamorphosis, into a continuous adaptation to the cultural and civilisational rhythms (and specificities) of the moment.

However, despite all the difficulties mentioned above, no theoretical or investigative approach can avoid the hard questions. What are graphic novels? Are they really novels? Can they be classified? If so, according to what criteria, based on what concepts? Who are their authors, readers, critics? Does the spread of graphic novels alter (amplify or undermine) the impact of eponymous books or films, does it lead to mutations in the conceptual apparatus of the various arts? Are there societies, mentalities, stereotypes that particularly stimulate the production of graphic novels? Does the future of graphic novels depend on the evolution of technology, does it belong to artificial intelligence? The contributions expected for the Critical Dossier of issue 1/2023 of Meridian Critique will answer these questions and/or propose original points of view related to the creation, development, reception and interpretation of graphic novels. Contributions for the other sections of the journal will also be considered.

 

Articles can be written in Romanian, English, French or German.

 

Papers (maximum 7000 words), accompanied by abstracts in English (maximum 200 words) and a short presentation of the author (a biographical note of no more than 400 words) should be sent to ioan.farmus@usm.ro, simonamanolache@litere.usv.ro and meridian.critic.flsc@gmail.com.

 

For details of the rules and style of writing, please refer to the guidelines on the journal's website: Instructions for Authors

 

Deadline for full article submission: 10 May 2023.

Meridian Critic Call:

POP CULTURE IN POST-COMMUNISM AND BEYOND

Western pop culture was one of the cultural factors that significantly contributed to the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. Pop music and video industry, Hollywood movies, commercial products (Levi’s jeans, Adidas or Nike sneakers, Coca Cola), fashion magazines, etc. were, for Eastern Europeans, embodiments of the dream of freedom and prosperity. One may therefore say that, in relation to the communist camp, Western pop culture had an intensely subversive character. The state of affairs in the post-communist period is different, with pop culture becoming the dominant culture. In the last 30 years, the transformations have been major and diverse. They have led to the exacerbation of the “high culture” crisis, to the dramatic decrease of local pop-culture audience and to imposing new cultural currents that have a global impact. We can talk about an influence of Western pop culture on Romanian music (new musical currents have been adopted, such as hip hop), but also on literature, with the new generations markedly influenced by this type of culture. These transformations have also led to the emergence of new institutionalizations and social practices, specific to a consumer society: the re-signification of urban environment through advertising, the development of mall-culture, picnics or car tourism. The global expansion of online media has only amplified the influence of pop culture beyond the national broadcast sources (television and other local media). It has boosted the advance of online social networks and has profoundly influenced youth culture.

Meridian Critic welcomes articles that employ new interdisciplinary approaches, integrated within but not limited to the following thematic fields:

- the influence of pop culture on literature and other cultural fields (music, art, cinema, etc.);

- pop culture as discourse (axiological, ideological aspects, etc.), transformations in the last 30 years, hybridizations of pop culture in post-communism;

- media, advertising and pop culture in post-communism;

- “post” discursive paradigms: post-communism, postcolonialism, postmodernism, post-truth.

Articles can be written in Romanian, English, French or German. Papers (maximum 7000 words), accompanied by abstracts in English (maximum 200 words) and a short presentation of the author (a biographical note not exceeding 400 words), will be sent to the addresses arthur.suciu@usm.ro and meridian.critic.flsc@gmail.com. For details on the rules and writing style, follow the instructions on the journal's website: http://meridiancritic.usv.ro/index.php?page=norme-de-redactare. Deadline for submission of the full article: May 31, 2022.