The above comic by Robert Berry appears in his Ulysses “Seen” adaptation of the James Joyce novel Ulysses. In an article, Adaptation and Narrative in Ulysses “Seen” by Janine Utell for The Comics Grid, she explains how “how well Ulysses lends itself to comics adaptation.” Utell goes on to explain how the Berry adaptation is a wonderful use of comic to hopefully entice readers to “…engage both with the story of Ulysses and with the art of the comic.” I have not read Ulysses and all I ever heard was "it's bad because it's about women committing adultery back in the day." I thought "How can the art of comic make an old mundane book about adultery enticing?"
I was interested to learn about the mechanics, the gutter and the other frameworks of comic art during Professor Logie’s lecture. Janine Utell’s article reinforces those aspects of the art. The article is really a review of Robert Berry’s comic skills at interpreting the James Joyce novel Ulysses. I needed the interpretation. I suppose that another attribute of the comic art. The visual gets you to look, to read and to maybe consider spending more time thinking about something new. Something different.
I saw the comic and read it three times. I was not amused and a bit confused. I was missing the point but, my interest was piqued. Finding the Janine Utell article was fortunate. She brings together the reasons the comic art is an important part of visual rhetoric. Janie Utell puts it best: “the conventions of comics allow for representing shifts in perspective, splits in the subject, movement over time and space, and the manipulation of voice–in short, because comics allow for a high degree of narrativity…”
http://ulyssesseen.com/ Accessed on 4/25/2013
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