Lynda Barry: Girlhood through the Looking Glass (Great Comics Artists Series)

Product Descriptionbest Known For Her LongRunning Comic Stripernie PookS Comeek, Illustrated Fiction (Cruddy, The Good Times Are Killing Me), And Graphic Novels (One! Hundred! Demons!), The Art Of Lynda Barry (B. 1956) Has Branched Out To Incorporate Plays, Paintings, Radio Commentary, And Lectures. With A Combination Of Simple, Raw Drawings And Mature, Eloquent Text, BarryS Oeuvre Blurs The Boundaries Between Fiction And Memoir, Comics And Literary Fiction, And Fantasy And Reality. Her Recent Volumeswhat It Is (2008) Andpicture This (2010) Fuse Autobiography, Teaching Guide, Sketchbook, And Cartooning Into Coherent Visions.Inlynda Barry: Girlhood Through The Looking Glass, Author Susan E. Kirtley Examines The ArtistS Career And Contributions To The Field Of Comic Art And Beyond. The Study Specifically Concentrates On BarryS Recurring Focus On Figures Of Young Girls, In A Variety Of Mediums And Genres. Barry Follows The Image Of The Girl Through Several LensesFrom TextBased Novels To The Hybrid Blending Of Text And Image In Comic Art, To Art Shows And Coloring Books. In Tracing BarryS Aesthetic And Intellectual Development, Kirtley Reveals BarryS Work To Be Groundbreaking In Its Understanding Of Femininity And Feminism.ReviewNo One Renders Girlhood Or Reanimates Memory Like Lynda Barry. Susan KirtleyS New Book Makes A Thoroughly Powerful Argument For Devoting Critical Attention To BarryS Work, Indeed For Placing Barry Close To The Center Of Our Consideration Of Autobiography, The Literature Of Adolescence, And The Graphic Novel. As Kirtley So Ably Demonstrates, There Are Many Sides To Lynda BarryS Career, And Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through The Looking Glass Is The First Place Where They Have Been Assembled With The Critical Synthesis They Deserve.Isaac Cates, Department Of English, University Of VermontI Thought I Knew About Lynda Barry, Until I Read Susan KirtleyS Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through The Looking Glass. In Each Chapter, Kirtley Gives Us New, Provocative Interpretations Of Such Diverse Barry Texts As The Naked Ladies! Naked Ladies! Naked Ladies! Coloring Book, The Good Times Are Killing Me Play, The Novel Cruddy And The Graphic Novel What It Is. KirtleyS WritingA Combination Of Enviable Clarity And The Savvy Application Of Narratology, Comic Art Theory, And Other IdeasDoes Justice To BarryS Kaleidoscopic Take On Troubled American Girlhood. Anyone Interested In Barry, Female Comics Creators, Or Contemporary Comics Culture Should Read KirtleyS Book.Craig Fischer, Department Of English, Appalachian State UniversityKirtley Brings Just The Right Combination Of Wit, Wisdom And Creative Quirkiness To This Important First Academic Study Of The Witty, Wise And Mercurial Lynda Barry. Focusing On BarryS Lifelong Engagement With The Inner Lives Of Girls Across Various Graphic FormsComic Strips, Illustrated Novels, Graphic Memoirs, And Autobiographical Workshop TextsKirtley Brilliantly Avoids The Trap Of Trying To Pin Barry Down Within Either Comics Or American Literary History, Instead Allowing BarryS Career As An ImageWrangler To Define Its Own Rules And Ultimately Its Own Canon.Jared Gardner, Author Of Projections: Comics And The History Of 21StCentury Storytellingfrom The Inside Flapa Critical Biography Of One Of The Pioneers Of Alternative Weekly Comic Stripsabout The Authorsusan E. Kirtley Is Assistant Professor Of English At Portland State University. Her Work Has Been Published Inrhetoric Review, Academic Exchange Quarterly, Andexit 9: The Rutgers Journal Of Comparative Literature.