Do Graphic Novels Count As Literature?

As someone who can be a bit snobbish when it comes to literature, I try to check myself once in a while to make sure I have at least some justification for being so. I do believe some forms of art are more intellectually or spiritually challenging than others, or at the very least that some forms of art tend to be more challenging than others. And I have to admit, in the past I looked down on graphic novels, as not being true ‘literature’ in my mind… a mind which I have changed, as I shall explain.

To illustrate my logic though, consider that a sculpture carved in stone will always hold a weightier significance than any digital representation of a 3D model could, regardless of the subject matter. The medium is an essential part of the final impression, as is the method used to make the art, in my opinion.

Beyond that, its genre—or I might say its intent—is essential as well. A dance-pop anthem can’t have the same power of emotional or psychological impact as an introspective hip-hop ballad, in large part because dance-pop anthems aren’t trying to make that kind of impact, it’s not their purpose.

There’s always a back and forth in the literary community about whether genre fiction (a.k.a. Sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, thriller, romance, etc.) has as much merit as ‘literary’ or ‘classic’ fiction. In my case, I sit with half an ass on each side of the issue. Genre fiction has plenty of merit as entertainment and escape, and the best of it can be as deep and as challenging as anything in the ‘classics’ category. However if you look at what’s generally agreed upon as the literary classics, you will find that almost all of them, even the ones that aren’t very good, reach for deeper philosophical or spiritual meaning.

My wife just read this one, she loved it

And that, I think, is at the heart of the question about merit. I don’t care if the story is some super-grounded inter-familial drama based on real events, or a spaceships-and-lasers shootout with aliens, the question for me is whether the story asks deeper questions about life and reality.

I would add to that, in terms of artistic merit, the work needs to use its medium to full effect. It hardly matters how deep the story is if the prose used to tell it is lifeless. This is maybe most apparent in film; how many great stories fall flat due to poor directing, editing, or acting? It’s not enough to have something to say, the way that it’s said is just as essential to the work of art.

This is where I come off a bit snobbish, because I find that much of the genre fiction out there is either poorly written, and/or makes no attempt to ask deeper questions. There are of course standouts in every genre that do these things very well, but like I said before, those things are rarely the intention of genre-fiction stories.

As to the question of medium, I would say some lend themselves more easily to ‘high art’, but that no medium is totally limited in this way. I have seen short, crude animations that changed the way I think about the future, I’ve been genuinely inspired by video games made for kids, and I’ve poured my heart and soul into purely digital music that can never be performed. So no, I don’t feel like the medium defines the worthiness of the art.

If you haven’t seen this short film, I definitely recommend it, excellent combination of funny, sad, adorable, and insightful

That said, I do believe physical mediums, and/or live mediums, are always the most artistically pure. Being in the same room as a live jazz band is always more of an overall experience than listening to a recording of one. Live theater relies more on real live artistry—actors all acting at once and carrying on a scene in real time—as opposed to film and TV which are more dependent on technical feats of the directors, editors, and so on.

So I would say, whatever tangible form a work of art can take is its most pure and worthy form.

So, if the question is whether a graphic novel has the same merit as a literary classic, I would say it all depends on what kind of intent the story has, and how well it is executed in its medium. Meaning that, ultimately, it doesn’t matter one bit if it’s a graphic novel or a prose one, it matters what the creators do with their chosen form.

One reason this question has been on my mind is because my wife just finished reading a graphic novel written by the infamous Alejandro Jodorowsky, La Loca Del Sagrado Corazon, which she loved, and relayed to me some of the spiritual and philosophical themes. The Spanish is too advanced for me to read yet, but judging by her account it’s just as introspective and intellectual as any of the non-graphic novels I’ve read.

I myself have read quite a lot of the manga series Berserk, which despite not being classified even as a graphic novel, I would argue reaches depths of character and emotion that earn it a place among great literature. (I might write a whole post about Berserk soon, there’s plenty to talk about).

So yeah, even though I can be kind of a snob, I’ve come around to thinking the medium and genre, while being essential aspects of the work of art, do not define the worthiness of the art. (This is not unlike my argument from one of my early posts, where I claimed that listening to an audio book may be a different experience from reading it, but it is no less valuable as an experience, and in some cases is even more so.)

Alright, bit of a ramble, but I wanted to drop my two cents on the matter for anyone interested. So let me know in the comments if you agree, and if you have any good graphic novel recommendations!

Gibbles