Remembered Reading

Mel Gibson is a Senior Lecturer in Childhood Studies at Northumbria University.

All in all, Remembered Reading tells a little-known story worth (re)telling: that of postwar British girls’ comics. It does so by combining academic accounts of girls’ comics and personal, “real-world” accounts. In all their respective limitations—which Gibson acknowledges, for instance, by pointing out that academic accounts are equally determined by their cultural moment (189) or by addressing issues related to working with readers and memory—both discourses fruitfully complement one another. They yield a more complete picture of what girls’ comics were and how they constructed girlhood, of how readers engaged with them, of how their reading was perceived by others, and of how they are remembered. At the same time, the book provides more general reflections on memories of reading and memory itself. All of this makes it a valuable read for people working in many fields, not just comics studies, gender studies, memory or popular literature. It is an illustration of how literary studies in general can benefit from taking audiences’ memories of actual reading into account. On top of that, Remembered Reading is written in a fluent language that is a pleasure to read, including some witty observations. Don’t take my word for it, just read Gibson’s book. Van Gansen, Kristof (2017), Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature: Vol. 42: Iss. 1, Article 29. https://doi.org/10.4148/2334-4415.1959

• IntroductionChapter One. Picture This: Working with Readers, Comics and Memory On Analysing, or rather, on Finding, Comics Media and Cultural Studies and Audience Research Audience, Class and Girls' Culture Working with Readers Working with Readers and Memory Chapter Two. The Rise and Fall of the British Girls' Comic: The Comic and Post-war Constructions of Girlhood Context: Periodical Publishers and Girlhood as a Cultural Construct The Girl's Own Paper Before the Comic: Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Periodicals for Girls Girl and Others: The Start of the Girl's Comic Roxy, Romance and Teenagers: Developing Comics for Young Adults Bunty and Princess: New Comics for Younger Girls Changing Markets: Tammy and the New Wave of Comics Endgame: Photo-stories and Horror Periodicals for Girls After the Comic Chapter Three. Mediating the Text: Academics, Teachers, Librarians and Others Comics and Criticism: Mass culture, media effects and moral panic The Impact of Feminism Perspectives on the Comic in Education and Librarianship since the 1990s Media Studies, Cultural Studies and Other Disciplines Children's Literature History and Comics Media and Cultural Studies Media and Cultural Studies research on Girls' Comics Chapter Four. The Readers' Tale: Girls Reading Girls' Comics Remembering Girls' Comics Remembering Narratives Contextualising Girls' Comics Parents and Comics Class, Aspiration, Rebellion and Comics Pleasure and Comics The Comic as Marker Chapter Five. You Can't Read Them, They're For Boys! Girls Reading Boys' and Mixed Gender Comics Rejecting the Girls' Comic Swapping Comics Comics for Mixed Gender Audiences Who are Humour Comics for? Remembering the 'Funnies' Other Issues of Ownership: Educational Comics and Girls One Step Beyond! Remembering Reading Comics for Boys The Appeal of the 'Other ' Remembering Narratives Rebellion, Gender and Identity 'Other' Comics and Feminism Being a Fan Conclusion Appendix 1. A Note on Interviews with Children in Accounts of Reading in the 1960sAppendix 2. Comics and Magazines Checklist Comic and Magazine titles Comics and Graphic novels Specific Stories, Series & Characters in Girl's Comics Bibliography