Comments on: Sunday Reading for Losers

By: Shashwati’s Blog » Blog Archive » Corridor: Bourgeois Bengali Angst in Delhi

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 01:59:11 +0000

[...] The novel seems to have done well in India, and the Hindu has an interview with Banerjee, via Chapati Mystery. Finally, Corridor is a great read, so support it by buying a legit copy! [...]

By: Cheeni

Cheeni — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

India’s first graphic novel – hardly true that; it’s not the first; and it’s not very interesting. Why is every one making a big deal of this? Some marketroid is congratulating herself right now I’m sure.

By: sepoy

sepoy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

haha! marketroid! so, what is the first graphic novel? and don’t say the Jataka stories.

By: Cheeni

Cheeni — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I have no idea what the first graphical novel was, but why do you discount the Jataka/Panchatantra anyway? :-) I could understand discounting kanji or hieroglyphics.

The graphical novel as a genre is not very distinguishable from the comic book or the cartoon; of which there have been plenty of Indian examples.

By: sepoy

sepoy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Graphic Novel is a medium and format quite distinct from the comic books or cartoons which emerged barely 25 years ago (hence, the in-admissibility of jatakas). From its bindings, to its non-serial nature, to its intended audience and themes, there are many ways in which it differentiates itself from the comic book. Here is another history. Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, is a novel - but told with pictures. It is not a comic book. Frank Miller, Art Speigelman, Alan Moore etc. are novelists. I want to see what Corridor has contributed to the genre.

By: Cheeni

Cheeni — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks for the links; but my opinion hasn’t changed – the graphic novel sounds like a marketroid’s dream – comics for grownups; yippe-ka-yay, PROFIT!

The Jatakas and the Panchatantras of the world then deserve their own category; they dwell on serious life issues via euphemistic mentions of the lives of forest dwellers.