Boredom, Cohesion, and Transformation in Nick Drnaso’s Beverly
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6188431 |
|---|---|
| Authors | D Callahan (0000-0003-4183-6691, Springer Nature (Germany), corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Publication date | 2022-12-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of American Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1991-9336 • E-ISSN: 1991-9336 |
| Publisher | OpenEdition (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4000/ejas.19057 |
| OpenAlex | W4315781894 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 12 |
Nick Drnaso’s Beverly (2016) is a loosely-connected assemblage of graphic stories focused on suburban Midwest America. The stories appear to represent suburban life as so monotonous that experiencing intensity or meaningful interactions is almost impossible. One potential avenue to break the monotony is that of actively transforming the self, but transformative options are revealed to be superficial and ultimately unable to counter the experience of life as lack and isolation. In turn, the possibility that the repetitive interactions of everyday life in fact provide known and secure structures, compensating for their flat sameness, is revealed to be hollow by most characters’ frustrations, melancholy, and lack of joyful connection with others. While the marginalized characters of Sal and Tyler may suggest the possibility of rejecting the boredom of everydayness, it comes at the cost of meaningful connection with others. By representing this everydayness through bland graphic strategies, Drnaso might seem to run the risk of having created a book that is itself boring, and yet his precise observation and subtle use of limited panel arrangements and color palette overcome the risk and make Beverly an acute exploration of contemporary suburban American life as boredom
Aesthetics · Art · Assemblage (archaeology · Boredom · Cohesion (chemistry · Epistemology · Everyday life · Media studies · Palette (painting · Sociology · Transformative learning · Visual arts · Comics and Graphic Narratives · Digital Games and Media · History · Mind wandering and attention · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |