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Week 11- Contemporary Literature

For this week, I decided on reading "Alice in Sunderland," an exploration of famous literature and how it relates to the numerous "wondrous" events that occurred at the city of Sunderland, in North East England. Specifically centering around the famous accomplished writer Lewis Carroll, this sort of biographical novel, sort of review of decades of literature is an interesting mix of art and writing styles. It explores the various connecting factors between the writer, Lewis Carroll and the Sunderland area, with wider themes of history, myth and storytelling. The greatest bulk of the story is told from an elderly “rabbit” performer in a near empty theatre, save one loudmouth youngster, who starts off very detached and jaded from his work and focused more on something as “mundane as age.” This relatively relatable, realistic setting as our basis for the story only furthers the imaginative themes discussed in the novel, and makes for a nice reliable background to go back to in between discussions. These kinds of comics as contemporary literature allow for a more visually sophisticated, (and very diverse representations) exploration of themes, and used very effectively by the writer and artist, Bryan Talbot. What could have been just another simple, (and let’s face it kind of boring) history and/or philosophy textbook recounting the accomplishments of other people is instead a recounting of epic storytelling and real-life human accomplishments; all while creating interesting art, imaginative literature, and producing memorable and engaging work that stands upon yet separate from the works discussed in the comic.  

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