Reading pictures

Graphic novels are a new avatar of the ancient illustrated dramas, says one publisher. They are now a promising genre in India, too.

In an era in which the spectre of e-readers haunts the publishing industry, one genre of books has done surprisingly well: the graphic novel. Even in the shadow of the recession, these picture-filled story books, many of them printed in full colour on expensive paper, have been so popular that K D Singh of The Bookshop in Delhi’s posh Jorbagh has devoted one entire shelf to them. He shows me the inventory of titles on his computer. It runs for pages and pages.

For many readers of serious literature, the very name of this genre is confusing. If something involves pictures and speech bubbles, surely it must be called a comic? And if a thing is called a comic, surely it cannot, by definition, be worthy of sober literary attention? Yet in recent years, some of the most successful graphic novels have been both serious and literary: Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman is set in World War II Germany. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is the autobiographical tale of one little girl growing up in Iran around the time of the Islamic Revolution. Epileptic by “David B” (David Beauchard) is the searing autobiographical account of a young man growing up in the shadow of his elder brother’s epilepsy. All three received ecstatic reviews and awards from the literary establishment.

Full report here Business Standard