Im Museum der Metalepsen

Intermedialität und Liminalität in den bandes dessinées von Catherine Meurisse

Abstract

Catherine Meurisse’ graphic novels create spaces for intermedial reflection, where the specific narrative possibilities of comic art are juxtaposed with prominent works from art history. Paintings are integrated into the realm of the bande dessinée in order to open them up both narratively and visually, to make them speak and set them in motion. Meurisse employs intermedial metalepsis to transform images into thresholds through which her characters can shift from one reality into another. The static character of the referenced paintings is thus dissolved into the narrative dynamics of new, often humoristic sequences of images. Through their trans­position into text-image narratives, paintings acquire a life of their own, freeing them from the constraints of the picture frame and transforming them into ‘undisciplined’ images that challenge the authority of art history’s canon while highlighting the artistic potential of comics as a neuvième art.