Apocalypse Yesterday: The Graphic Novel in the Anthropocene (Wednesday, 3rd November 2021) City, University of London – City, University of London

In the age of the Anthropocene, humans have become geological agents. We live with the consequences of actions our ancestors committed decades, if not centuries, ago. The linear narrative time that for so long dominated the industrial world has, in our era of climate crisis, collapsed in on itself and is about to snap.

In this talk, we will explore how the Anthropocene's overturning of our conventional narrative structures can be communicated and perhaps even productively re-imagined through the peculiar narrative space-time of the graphic novel form. Drawing on several examples from recent long-form comics, we will see how the elasticity and simultaneity of graphic narrative can allow us to grasp the systemic reach of the Anthropocene and to think through the full force of its effects.

This event forms part of the COP26@City programme, a series of events and actions which demonstrate Citys commitment to reducing our environmental impact and playing our part in responding to the global climate challenge.

COP26 is the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties and this year it will take place in Glasgow between 31 October 12 November. The COP26 summit will bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Speaker:Dr Dominic Davies, Department of English

Dom Davies is Senior Lecturer in English and programme director of the BA English at City. He is the author of Urban Comics (Routledge 2019) and co-editor of Documenting Trauma in Comics (Palgrave 2020). He is currently co-authoring a book entitled Apocalypse Yesterday: Posthuman Geographies and the Anthropocene Graphic Novel.

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Apocalypse Yesterday: The Graphic Novel in the Anthropocene (Wednesday, 3rd November 2021) City, University of London - City, University of London