The legendary American cartoonist and author Jules Feiffer has enjoyed a long and varied career, working on everything from illustrating The Phantom Tollbooth to writing the screenplay for the film Popeye. But some of his most innovative work came very late in his career, with a trio of graphic novels he composed in his eighties: Kill My Mother (2014), Cousin Joseph (2016), and The Ghost Script (2018).
Back to Black provides the first full-length critical analysis of this trilogy, exploring how it pays homage to the iconography and themes of film noir through constant graphic experimentation and a striking reinvention of Feiffer’s distinctive style. Fabrice Leroy shows how Feiffer deftly alternates between dramatic and satirical tones as he plays with the conventions of noir to provide a caustic yet moving commentary on mid-twentieth-century American life. Through close readings of each novel in the trilogy, he examines Feiffer’s singular depiction of the central political issues in the United States from the Great Depression to the 1950s, which still resonate today: unionization struggles, cinematic propaganda, McCarthyism, the American Dream, immigration, antisemitism, civil rights, and gender discrimination. Placing the noir trilogy into the context of Feiffer’s long career, Back to Black demonstrates how he offers a loving pastiche of the genre without losing his unique voice or critical edge.
Introduction: Back to Black
Chapter One: From Oedipus to Hollywood: Trauma and Simulacrum in Kill My Mother
Chapter Two: Cousin Joseph: A Noir Take on the American Dream
Chapter Three: Revenge, Repetition, and Reflexivity in The Ghost Script
Conclusion: Homage, Experimentation, and Irony in the Trilogy
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Introduction: Back to Black 1
1 Kill My Mother:
From Oedipal Trauma to Hollywood
Simulacrum 13
2 Cousin Joseph: A Noir Take on the American Dream 65
3 The Ghost Script: Revenge, Repetition, and Reflexivity 123
Conclusion: Homage, Experimentation, and Irony
in the Trilogy 175
Acknowledgments
181
Notes 183
References 197
Index 000
