Intro

First of all I would like to thank you all for being present, it’s been not 3 but 4 years of hard work. The fourth
one the most difficult one, I have to admit, as I had to both complete my thesis and take care of my newborn
baby boy. But yes, I finally got to this point where my ideas, my vision and my goal got a shape, got cohesion
and I have the chance to present to you the topic The Adaptation of Literary Works into Comics – an
Interdisciplinary Approach.

outline

My presentation will start with the context of my research, what motivated me to choose this particular
subject and its academic relevance.

Followed by the objectives I set, the novelty of the subject proposed and the originality of my approach, the
methodology I used to meet the objectives, the list of chapters, and some key ideas from each chapter,
general conclusions and I will end with the list of conferences attended and the papers I presented which
tackled many of the ideas found in my thesis.

As concerns the context of my research, I have to start by telling you that I am a graduate of a journalism
profile faculty, so I enjoyed to work with the mix of text and image, I liked each time the way they
complemented each other.. and now as a teacher to primary and secondary students I always take advantage
of pictures and try to stir their creativity by bringing forth images, too, not only delivering information through
words. This is how I got the idea to start a research in how comics, this wonderful blend of text and image
function and to exploit its potential to help raise the level of literacy in mixed levels and mixed learning types
classes.

More than this, unfortunately

• reading habits’ percentages are falling as digital entertainment (such as applications, games and
YouTube) develop

• However, a growing trend noticed over the years: the interest in reading comics and graphic novels,
means of expression which approach and incorporate the visual dynamism present in the modern
media –

• An exciting example of bi-literacy already exists and it can be found in the multimodal medium called
comics – seems to be the solution to both preserve deep reading skills and keep up with technology
advancement

It was also challenging to examine the after-life of literary works into the comics and graphic novel format.
That is because, generally, regardless of the medium utilized for rendering classic works, the adaptations will
most likely not struggle to please critics, will not particularly be addressed to lovers of the original work, but
they will probably be designed for a global public and for a global market. Or in Diane Sadoff’s words:

Contemporary adaptations are constantly developing, focusing on an “international” audience, designed by

The 3 main objectives I have tried to meet are

Firstly, to acknowledge the legitimacy of the medium of comics as an art form (a quite difficult task, especially
when dealing with the delicate issue of transposing literature into this medium, regardless of the extent of the
resulting distance from the original)
Secondly, to determine and analyze the current trend in comics literary adaptations, (as I have to take into
consideration the trend set by the globalized audience and reevaluate the way an adaptation fulfills the global
audience's expectations)

And lastly, to promote ways for the educational field to benefit from the process; students of all ages are
overwhelmed by the explosion of technology that surrounds them, internet, social media platforms,
smartphones, all employing images and infographics, comics could therefore keep up with the trend and
engage them with visual learning

Novely

The novelty of my study relies firstly in the fact that most studies discuss original works of comics and graphic
novels( that aim to address topics like politics, religion, power, race, immigrant life, prejudice, ethics etc.)

Only a few theses worldwide dealing with literature adaptation into the graphic format, (most of which focus
on fidelity in adaptation, and avoid discussions regarding creative reinterpretations) - PhD theses of Adria
Young - Adapting Tristram Shandy (2011), Margaret Roper’s Shakespeare and contemporary adaptation: the
graphic novel (2013), Merrylees Benjamin’ s Sound and Fury: Creating a Graphic Novel Adaptation of Macbeth
(2017).

No similar extended study at the national level (concerning the language of comics and the comics-literature
relationship through adaptation, therefore my personal approach could open up possibilities as well as inspire
other interested students and researchers to tackle comparable interdisciplinary topics that discuss sequential
art in general)

I have used Ion Creangă’s fairy tale (The Story of The White Moor) as the initial point of reference – but I have
also employed it as a the link between chapters and as a means of exemplifying all the concepts present in my
thesis.

The methodology which I used in order to meet the objectives are:

 reviewing the history of comics’ evolution and understanding how the ups and downs occurred
affected the development of the creative process, which was at some points disrupted ;
 understanding the medium’s tools utilized by the artists to enforce the idea of comics as a distinct art
form;
 exemplification through a multitude of picture reading of how narrative elements are transposed in
graphics through adaptation, as well as how literary themes can be very well twisted or distorted in
comics through appropriation, but then again how literature, through the process of convergence
culture, revives in the universe of comics on account of transmedia adaptation, not so much stressing
fidelity to the source, but fidelity to the globalized audience’s preference; I have also developed a
 multiple-choice questionnaire so as to identify the profile of the Romanian comics reader and analyze
reactions to the graphic adaptation;
 in addition, I gathered examples of successful practices of introducing comics and graphic novels in
classrooms worldwide, as well as curricula of such courses, personally provided to me by professors
that I met at international conferences;
 eventually, based on the information above, I argue upon the benefits of including comics and
graphic novels as auxiliary materials in the Romanian educational curricula.
General Conclusions

 Understanding how the medium of comics creates and sustains significance generates a higher
recognition of what is communicated

 A way for classic novels to survive the pictorial and technology ages is through adaptation and
appropriation into other media

 Comics adaptations are visually engaging resources which carry along complex writing styles and
spread important cultural literacy concepts transposed into a format more eagerly embraced by
various readers; fidelity in adaptation is no longer a point of reference

 Through appropriation, texts can take a variety of interesting forms, regardless of their original genre,
and generally target a global public and a global market; they are as popular as adaptations

 Literacy nowadays has to comprise both the informational and visual fields and comics/graphic novels
seem the solution to both preserve deep reading skills and keep up with technology advancement
through the “bi-literacy” promoted by the medium

The increasing number of cross-media adaptations seems to indicate that it is vital to reconsider these
adaptation theories in regards to an increasingly globalized and mediated world, as adaptations now
cross cultures as well as media. In this paper, I have demonstrated that the adaptation theories we are
studying in class remain relevant, but that they also must themselves be adapted in order to consider
how adaptation has changed in the 21st century.

Conferences & Research Mobility

 5 International Conferences participation (Paris, Novi Sad, Timisoara, Targu-Mures, Bucuresti)

 2 National Conferences participation (Iasi, Poiana Brasov)

 1 BDI article (De Gruyter Online)

 2 Conference proceedings articles

 Research Mobility in Glasgow U.K – University of Glasgow (1.03.2015- 31.03.2015) -

• Supervised by Laurence Grove, professor of Text/Image Studies, editor of "European Comic Art"
publication.

• Posdru mobility
• Where I had the chance to meet professionals in the field, professors teaching comics and gr novels at
graduate and postgraduate levels, a great resource bank at Glasgow university library and create
contacts who provided me with materials that I have also included as annexes in my theses – courses
descriptions etc.