Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Thoughts
This is a little late but here is what I've been thinking about for my paper. I am really interested in the art and art references in The Graveyard book. My first inclination is to write about the Dance Macabre - Its origins, its purpose in Gaiman's book, and its modern applications. As far as modern applications I would not limit it to just fantasy examples but not-fantasy references and non-literary references. Secondly, I am interested in the impact art has on a literary piece. Which comes first the picture or the book. And how cover art/inside art enhances or detracts from the book. My concern with the second idea is its lack of concrete evidence and its emphasis on opinion.
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I think this would work. The Danse Macabre alone will have enough material for a paper. But it's interesting that Gaiman actually has two versions of the book - one with the McKean illustrations that we have (supposedly the "adult" version, according to Gaiman's message board) and another with Chris Riddell doing the illustrations (supposedly the "child's" version). I'm not sure the latter is available in the US, but here's the link so you can see I'm not just making up BS.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Graveyard-Book-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0747569010/ref=pd_sim_dbs_b?ie=UTF8&qid=1216254100&sr=1-90
Very interesting, Dan. That's quite a different Silas than McKean has given us. Here's the actual link.
ReplyDeleteKellie, in this case I think it's pretty clear that the book preceded the illustrations, but how the art affects your reading of the book is certainly worth writing about -- as is the Danse Macabre, of course, as Dan said.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about emphasizing your opinion. All these papers, I presume, will emphasize the paper writer's opinion. In fact, conveying that opinion in a convincing way is the whole point of writing a paper!