https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i2.071
Transmogrification as a Phenomenon of Intersections in the Post-Millennial Indian Graphic Novel: A Study of Corridor and All Quiet in Vikaspuri
DEEPAK DHANANJAYAN E
Ph.D Scholar, Department of English
Pondicherry University, Chinna Kalapet, Puducherry
DR. K. RESHMI
Professor, Department of English
Pondicherry University
Abstract: The Indian graphic novel emerged as a medium of counterculture and a space to discuss societal issues. The graphic narratives produced under the label of ‘graphic novel’ steered away from the early Indian comics like Amar Chitra Katha, Chandamama, Raj Comics, etc., by shifting the focus from nation-building to questioning the issues within the nation-state. The publication of the first Indian graphic novel, River of Stories (1994) by Orijit Sen, coincides with India’s economic liberalisation during the 90s. The globalisation that followed changed the publishing culture, as global publishers began establishing bases in India. The post-liberalisation period served as a bridge between local and global cultures, and their amalgamation can be seen in any art form produced during and after this era. Technological advancements gave rise to new forms of media for cultural expression, and the Indian graphic novel was at the centre of shifting tides in the economic, cultural, and social spheres. The spirit of counterculture, combined with new medialities, made the Indian graphic novel a site of experimentation and hybridity, the manifestation of which can be seen across different aspects of the medium, including intermediality. The appropriation, assimilation, and adaptation of elements from other media lead to transmogrification, and the term signifies the changes in medialities and modalities of intermedial references. These intermedial references embody aesthetic hybridity and cultural intersections, which are at the centre of making the post-millennial Indian graphic novel. This paper aims to study the intersections between medialities, modalities, and visual cultures through analysing the phenomenon of transmogrification in Sarnath Banerjee’s Corridor (2004) and All Quiet in Vikaspuri (2015).
Keywords: transmogrification, intermediality, graphic novel, visual culture
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