We have an obligation to imagine : A Critical Reception of the Work of Neil Gaiman

Transcription

1 We have an obligation to imagine : A Critical Reception of the Work of Neil Gaiman Kyle Eveleth and Justin Wigard Writing a critical reception about Neil Gaiman seems, initially at least, a foregone conclusion: What more could there possibly be to say about one of the most influential creators of children s literature, adult literature (if there s a difference), comic books, graphic novels, television episodes, science fiction, darkly humorous novels, mixedmedia, adult-style picture books, video games, and genre-bending, spoken-word performances that has not been already said? In truth, if one peruses the list of major works near the end of this volume, to even name, let alone offer comment upon, even a quarter of his contributions to the literary canon since 1985 might take twice the length of the space of this chapter. As such, we have attempted to give a brief overview of the work that has been done most recently on Gaiman s body of texts, while also providing a bit more information about some of the lesser-known aspects of his career (that is, beyond The Sandman and his longer fiction). Finally, we give a small taste of the possibilities yet to come in studies about Gaiman s impact on the literary world and beyond. Academic and Popular Criticism Broadly speaking, Neil Gaiman has become one of the core, canonical authors in several fields of literary study, including, but certainly not limited to: science fiction and fantasy, comic studies, and children s literature. To wit, in Voices of Vision (2005), a book of interviews with contemporary fantasy and science-fiction authors, journalist and public information specialist Jayme Lynn Blaschke features Gaiman as one of the foremost creators of fantasy/sci-fi literature, alongside heavyweights like Samuel R. Delaney, blankly stating that he might be one of the most important fantasists of contemporary literature (127). A year later, in an interview with the SF Site s Rick Klaw, Blaschke admits that Gaiman s inclusion We have an obligation to imagine 3

2 became one of the book s largest selling points, with its cover perhaps inspired by Gaiman s then recently-published Sandman collection, The Doll s House (1). Not long after, in 2008, critics Philip Sandifer and Tof Eklund mused that Gaiman is one of those comics creators... who one could assemble a special issue on without having to justify the worth of the endeavor (1). This litany of critical compliment is somewhat endless (to choose an apt term) and all-encompassing of Gaiman s work regardless of genre, mode, or medium. Chloé Germaine Buckley, writing in the Children s Literature Association Quarterly, contends that Neil Gaiman, especially with his novel Coraline (2002), has rapidly achieved canonical status (58) in the field of children s literature, a classic to be read alongside Through the Looking-Glass (1871) as a rewriting... by way of Freud s essay The Uncanny (58). Even more recently, in volume 207 of Children s Literature Review (March 2016), Jelena Krstovic observes that commentators have admired Gaiman s skill and ingenuity in creating fanciful characters, parallel worlds, and imaginative mythologies (2). She goes on to list eight recently-published works, ranging from monographs to articles, on a variety of Gaiman texts across genres: The Sandman, his novel American Gods (2001), his graphic novelization with P. Craig Russell of children s novel Coraline (2008), and even his first penned episode of the hit BBC television show, Doctor Who (episode 216, The Doctor s Wife, 2011). Book-length scholarship concerning his works range from edited collections, like Tara Prescott s Neil Gaiman in the 21st Century: Essays on the Novels, Children s Stories, Online Writings, Comics and Other Works (McFarland, 2015); Prescott and Aaron Drucker s Feminism in the Worlds of Neil Gaiman: Essays on the Comics, Poetry, and Prose (McFarland, 2012); Tracy L. Bealer, Rachel Luria, and Wayne Yuen s Neil Gaiman and Philosophy: Gods Gone Wild! (Open Court, 2012), to more popular publications, like fan guides such as Hank Wagner, Christopher Golden, and Stephen R. Bissette s Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman (St. Martin s, 2008). Also available are popular monographs, like Hayley Campbell s The Art of Neil Gaiman (Harper Design, 2014); 4 Critical Insights

3 guidebook anthologies, like Joe Sanders The Sandman Papers (Fantagraphics, 2006); critical sourcebooks and companions, such as Alisa Kwitney s The Sandman: King of Dreams (Chronicle, 2003) and Hy Bender s Sandman Companion (DC Comics, 1999). Scholarly paeans include Steven Rauch s The Sandman and Joseph Campbell (Wildside, 2003). Articles and book chapters too numerous to list here but well catalogued in this volume s Bibliography, located in the Resources section abound, focusing on his ability to cross genres; to redefine publishing trends; to change comics readership; and, more than anything, to write outstanding pieces of literature. Popular Reception: Breaking Boundaries Indeed, since completing formal academics, Gaiman has immersed himself in his career as a writer, writing his first novel, a children s book titled My Great Aunt Ermintrude, partly in order to prove to his children that he was, in fact, a writer (Gaiman, Interview ). He then sent the book out to Kestrel Books, upon which he promptly received a rejection. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Gaiman recalls: The great thing about not being very good yet is I didn t know I wasn t very good yet. I thought I was brilliant. And thinking that I was brilliant gave me the confidence to keep going until I actually happened to learn my craft enough to not be crap (Campbell 36). Failure and mistakes, he maintains elsewhere, are part of the job. He explains that the smash hit Coraline was so named because of a typing mistake, in which he transposed the a and the o in Caroline on a QWERTY keyboard, but he never changed the error because Coraline almost looks like a real name (36). Nevertheless, failure and its companion, feeling utterly lost, have not coincidentally formed much of the fuel for Gaiman s successes. Consider, for example, one of his most famous lectures, the Make Good Art talk, delivered at the commencement of The University of the Arts in In part, he says: When you start out on a career in the arts you have no idea what you are doing. This is great. People who know what they are doing know the rules, and know what is possible and impossible. You do not. And you should not. The rules on what is possible and impossible in We have an obligation to imagine 5

4 the arts were made by people who had not tested the bounds of the possible by going beyond them. And you can. If you don t know it s impossible it s easier to do. And because nobody s done it before, they haven t made up rules to stop anyone doing that again, yet. To be sure, Gaiman s illustrious career has been guided by boundarybreaking. In 1991, The Sandman #19, A Midsummer Night s Dream, became the first comic book to win the World Fantasy Award (WFA) for Best Short Fiction, which caused the WFA to change the rules to exclude comics from the competition from that point thereafter (see Wilson s introduction to The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes, 1991). The Sandman was especially noteworthy as one of the comics that revitalized DC s presence (under the Vertigo imprint) in the market, even as comic book sales elsewhere fell, because of its appeal to readers who did not fit the usual considerations of the comic book reader mold at the time. (Think Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons.) His novels Coraline and The Graveyard Book, both ostensibly seen as having been written for children or young adults, have both won numerous awards specifically for children s and adolescent literature, such as the Locus Awards in Best Young Adult Novel and Best Young Adult Book, respectively, as well as an Eisner for Best Publication for Teens/Tweens for Coraline s adaptation by Gaiman and P. Craig Russell, not to mention both a Carnegie and Newbery Medal for The Graveyard Book the first book ever to enjoy winning the medals simultaneously. And while noteworthy, they have both been awarded in competitions usually reserved for adult fiction as well, with Coraline winning a Hugo and a Nebula award for Best Novella and The Graveyard Book winning a Hugo and British Fantasy award for Best Novel. Make Good Art These award lists are not limited merely to Gaiman s novels, and their difficulty in categorization as children s literature, as young adult literature, as adult literature (See Annette Wannamaker s chapter, Guilty Pleasures: Neil Gaiman s Books for Children for Adults, later in this volume.) extends to Gaiman as an author, 6 Critical Insights

5 plain and simple. Despite the difficulty of categorization (or perhaps precisely because of it) Gaiman has become one of the most-lauded individual writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This is in keeping with his mantra, delivered to the students of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, to, above all other things and in any particularized situation, make good art : Make good art. I m serious. Husband runs off with a politician? Make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. Cat exploded? Make good art. Somebody on the Internet thinks what you do is stupid or evil or it s all been done before? Make good art. Probably things will work out somehow, and eventually time will take the sting away, but that doesn t matter. Do what only you do best. Make good art. And good art he has made. Collectively, Gaiman has won four Bram Stoker Awards, has two Nebula Awards, and six Hugo Awards or nominations. His novels, Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett) and Stardust have each been runners-up for the Locus Awards Best Fantasy Novel awards; American Gods won the award in 2002, and, in total, he has fifteen Locus Awards or nominations. He has won multiple Best Short Story awards for such tales as A Study in Emerald, Sunbird, and How to Talk to Girls at Parties, in addition to multiple Shirley Jackson Awards and British Fantasy Awards. Beyond the page, Gaiman has even secured a William Shatner Golden Groundhog (for MirrorMask, the BBC-scripted television series and novel), a Ray Bradbury award (for The Doctor s Wife from the BBS television series Doctor Who), and a Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award. But perhaps his mostawarded work, of course, is The Sandman. As of this writing and counting Gaiman s original series, its spin-off comic series, novella, and collection of short stories, The Sandman series (including the novelizations, one-shots, and continuation into the prequel The Sandman: Overture) has won over twenty-six Eisner Awards, including Best Writer, Best Single Issue or Story, Best Continuing We have an obligation to imagine 7

6 Series, as well as the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo Award, and the Bram Stoker Award (Hahn). IN-DEPTH: Comics, Graphic Novels, and The Sandman Since its publication, Gaiman s reinvigoration of The Sandman has become one of the most critically-lauded comic book series of all time. Running for seventy-five issues (not including the aforementioned prequels and one-shots), the success of The Sandman spawned numerous spin-off comic series, including Death: The High Cost of Living, Lucifer, and Dead Boy Detectives. The depth with which Gaiman crafted each issue of The Sandman helped elevate comics beyond the pulp series and colorful superheroics of previous decades, infusing connections to the works of William Shakespeare, T. S. Eliot, and Greek and Norse mythology alongside references to Mary Poppins, Julius Ceasar, and Marco Polo. Further, as Kathryn Hume notes, The Sandman is crafted according to one of the oldest storytelling genres: the frame tale (345). Something like a modernday Decameron, One Thousand and One Nights, or Canterbury Tales, Gaiman s The Sandman relishes in the varied experiences of storytelling: of telling, of being told to, of being told about (Hume 346). At the same time, Hume notes that the overall structure of the work reflects a deeply Romantic mythos, one that, rather than running from death, embraces it (362). Gaiman s series offered a dark fantasy tale of epic proportions about family, love, and loss amidst a time in comics dominated by hyper-muscled superheroes and realistic, gritty depictions of the world. Though Gaiman wrote and published several projects prior to this, The Sandman is what established Gaiman s status as a writer of critical and cultural importance. Alongside, and certainly inspired by, Alan Moore s work on Saga of the Swamp Thing and Watchmen, Gaiman s work on Sandman is often credited with ushering in the modern age of comics, marking the series as a watershed moment not only for his career but for the medium itself. 8 Critical Insights