Lesen wir Literatur oder lesen wir Comics?

Abstract

This article shows how comics can be used in university seminars on literature to strengthen stu-dents’ competencies in relation to the so-called “multiliteracies”. This concept was developed by the New London Group (1996) and proposes a multimodal approach, while at the same time drawing attention to socio-political contexts and inter- or transcultural issues – and has often been reduced to a mere media perspective, especially in the field of literature didactics and comics. By contrast, I aim to take up the original concept of “multiliteracies” and – enhanced by Jens Schröter’s theory (2008) of the “primordial-intermedial network” – to use selected Czech comics to show how reading them can open up a new view of literary texts and, ultimately, of languages and cultures in their entirety.

Keywords

• graphic novel, higher education didactics, didactics of literature, multiliteracies, Czech comics