Narrating the Lived Reality of Illness in Comics and Literature. Research by the <i>PathoGraphics</i> Team at Freie Universität Berlin

Abstract

The PathoGraphics project at Freie Universität Berlin is the first and, up to now, the only research group at a German university that focuses on illness narratives in both literature and comics. Funded since 2016 by the Einstein Foundation Berlin, PathoGraphics pursues research into the narrative and visual strategies, aesthetic choices, and ethical implications of representations of illness and disability in both media in order to foster a dialogue between literary and cultural studies, comics studies, critical health studies, the medical professions, and the wider society. By giving brief exemplary readings of excerpts from four English- and German-language comics, the article introduces the project’s key questions, reports on both past and upcoming academic events and public activities, and outlines the project’s publications.