engleski

Representations of the Adriatic in Croatian caricatures, comic books, and graphic novels

The Adriatic Sea and its importance for Croatian culture, economy, and politics have long been a source of inspiration for Croatian graphic artists. Depictions of the Croatian coastline can be traced to the beginnings of the history of Croatian comic books (e.g. in the work of Andrija Maurović). The aim of this study, however, is to focus on more recent and more experimental representations of the Adriatic Sea and the Croatian coastline in Croatian caricatures, comic books, and graphic novels. It will be shown that both real and imaginary locations along the Adriatic have been depicted as sites of political, cultural, moral, and economic change, especially with regard to the enduring legacy of the war between Croatia and Serbia and its post-war consequences (e.g. in the graphic novels of Branko Ricov and Davor Radoja). In the field of caricature, the Croatian coastline is often depicted in light of its tourist industry, as a place that serves both as a point of attraction for foreign tourists in the summer months and as the promised land for vacationers seeking refuge from overheated Croatian cities (e.g. in the caricatures of Dalibor Mataković). Furthermore, the Croatian coast is also represented in its interaction with the Mediterranean Sea, which has been made all the more complex in recent years due to the immigration crisis and the importance of Croatia as a channel for reaching central Europe (e.g. in the work of Helena Klakočar). Special attention will be paid to the strong comic mode which is present in some of the representations and often combined with intertextuality, parody, and the grotesque.

Adriatic ; caricatures ; comic books ; graphic novels ; grotesque ; humour

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