This special issue of Yale French Studies on bande dessinee is a multifaceted reflection on its newfound academic status. It goes beyond the question, settled long ago, of its artistic legitimacy but aims to think "outside the boxes," or cases, themselves in order to explore the mutually enriching relationship between BD and the wider francophone cultural and intellectual world. Contributions thus intersect with art history, literary theory, cinema studies, postcolonialism, semiotics, and political sociology. Articles are by mainstream interdisciplinary scholars applying themselves to BD, leading authorities on bande dessinee itself, BD artists, and key figures in contemporary French thought whose texts appear in English for the first time.

Here's what's in store:

Editors' Preface: Thinking Outside the Boxes (pp. 1-7) LAURENCE GROVE and MICHAEL SYROTINSKI 

I. History

Gerard Blanchard's Lascaux Hypothesis (pp. 11-20) THIERRY GROENSTEEN and Ann Miller 

"En voila encore De Bonnes!": Caricature and Graphic Satire in Quebec, 1792– 1811 (pp. 21-45) DOMINIC HARDY

Ferdinand de Saussure's Unknown "Bandes Dessineees" (pp. 46-61) LAURENCE GROVE
 

II. Form and Genre

"The Roman Dessine:" A Little-Known Genre (pp. 65-83) JAN BAETENS

The Inherent Three-Dimensionality of Comics (pp. 84-100) CATHERINE LABIO

Alain Resnais and "Bande Dessinee" (pp. 101-105) KEITH READER 

 

III. BD and Modern France

Consensus and Dissensus in "Bande Dessinee" (pp. 109-137) ANN MILLER

Alternative "Bande Dessinee" and Anti-Consumerism: Laurence Grove Interviews Nikola Witko (pp. 138-144)
NIKOLA WITKO and Michael Syrotinski 

"Asterix" and Modem France: Laurence Grove Interviews Jean-Yves Ferri (pp. 145-148)
JEAN-YVES FERRI and Michael Syrotinski 

 

IV. BD and the World Beyond

Imagining the First French Empire: "Bande Dessinee" and the Atlantic (pp. 151-167) BILL MARSHALL

Photography's Other Territories in “Sera's L'eau et la terre" (pp. 168-188) MARK MCKINNEY

Haiti and Comics: The Search for (New Graphic) Narratives (pp. 189-212) CHARLES FORSDICK
 

V. Tintin and the Academy

Light (pp. 215-221) MICHEL SERRES and Michael Syrotinski 

Terrifying, Wondrous Tintin (pp. 222-236) JEAN-LUC MARION and Michael Syrotinski 

 

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