  Prudius-vestnik-2026-3-ru.pdf |
- 20
- The representation of the Great Artist’s figure in the graphic novel “Delacroix” by Catherine Meurisse
- Prudius I.G. The representation of the Great Artist’s figure in the graphic novel “Delacroix” by Catherine Meurisse. Vestnik of Kostroma State University, 2026, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 150–156. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2026-32-3-150-156
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2026-32-3-150-156
- УДК: 821(44).09«21»
- EDN: LFOTOD
- Publish date: 2026-09-10
- Annotation: The article examines the representation of Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) in the contemporary graphic novel created by French artist and writer Catherine Meurisse (b. 1980). Topicality of this study stems from the need to investigate the transformation of the hero category in the early 21st-century graphic novel – a genre that synthesises features of comics book and the novel, reflecting the demand of contemporary visual culture for an ambivalent, self-reflective character. The aim of this work is to identify the specific features of the image of the creator genius as a representative of the metamodern anthropological type embodying a neo-romantic sensibility of the century. Particular attention is paid to the methods of constructing the Romantic artist’s image through an intertextual dialogue between the narrator and both a specific historical figure (writer Alexandre Dumas who was a friend of Delacroix,) and the cultural context of the Romantic era. It is established that Eugène Delacroix’s image in Meurisse’s interpretation is constructed as that of a rebel confronting the artistic norms of his time which aligns with the mainstream trend in contemporary humanities toward overcoming the positive-negative binary opposition. The key strategies of representation are identified: a circular composition that establishes a paratextual frame for the narrative; the transformation of the artist’s self-portrait through mythologisation; a fragmentary visual-narrative structure incorporating polygeneric elements (art historical commentary, confessional letter, postmodern graphic narrative, premodernist stream of consciousness). It is demonstrated that Meurisse’s choice of A. Dumas’s memoirs, rather than Delacroix’s own diaries, as the narrative basis is determined by the intention of deliberate mythologisation and canonisation of the artist in the spirit of “folk romanticism”. So, the deliberate caricatural quality and “smallness” of Delacroix’s figure against the backdrop of hyperbolised “answers” of his paintings give rise to the image of a universal creator, this is one who doubts but continues to create despite public rejection.
- Keywords: graphic novel, French literature, Eugène Delacroix, Catherine Meurisse, graphic narratives, biography genre.
- Literature list: Eisner W. Komiks i posledovatel'noe iskusstvo [Comics and Sequential Art]. Moscow, Mann, Ivanov and Ferber Publ., 2022, 192 p. (In Russ.) Baranskaya E.M. Komiks kak fenomen massovoy kul'tury XX–XXI v. [Comics as a Phenomenon of Mass Culture in the 20th–21st Centuries]. Kul'tura i obrazovanie [Culture and Education], 2016, nо. 2 (21), pp. 44–49. (In Russ.) Khrapovitskaya G.N., Korovin A.V. Istorii︠a︡ zarubezhnoĭ literatury. Zapadnoevropeĭskiĭ i amerikanskiĭ romantizm [History of Foreign Literature. Western European and American Romanticism]. Moscow, Flinta, Nauka Publ., 2002, 406 p. (In Russ.) Merkulova M.G., Prudius I.G. Graficheskii roman – adaptatsiia: k opredeleniiu subzhanra (na materiale franko- i angloiazychnykh tekstov) [The Graphic Novel – Adaptation: to the Definition of the Subgenre (on the Example of French- and English-language Texts)]. Nauchnyy dialog [Scientific Dialogue], 2024, vol. 13, nо. 6, pp. 250–265. (In Russ.) Merkulova M.G., Prudius I.G. Zhanr graficheskogo romana: k postanovke problemy (na materiale sovremennykh franko- i angloiazychnykh tekstov) [Genre of the Graphic Novel: Toward the Formulation of the Problem (Based on Modern French-language and English-language Texts)]. Filologicheskie nauki. Voprosy teorii i praktiki [Philology Theory & Practice], 2023, vol. 16, nо. 10, pp. 3379–3385. (In Russ.) Novokreshchennykh I.A. Literaturnaya retseptsiya tvorchestva Obri Berdsli i «Novogo iskusstva» v zhurnale «Panch» [Literary reception of Aubrey Beardsley’s works and the “New Art” in Punch magazine]. Vestnik Kostromskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Vestnik of Kostroma State University], 2025, vol. 31, nо. 2, pp. 104–111. (In Russ.) Pakhsar'yan N.T. Problema «narodnogo romantizma» i roman A. Diuma «Graf Monte-Kristo» [The Problem of “People’s Romanticism” and A. Dumas’s Novel “The Count of Monte Cristo”]. Romantizm: dva veka osmysleniya [Romanticism: Two Centuries of Interpretation]. Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad State University Press Publ., 2003, pp. 115–123. (In Russ.) Proskurnin B.M. Realizm? Modernizm? Postmodernizm? Post-postmodernizm? Razmyshleniia o sovremennoĭ britanskoĭ proze [Realism? Modernism? Postmodernism? Post-postmodernism? Reflections on Contemporary British Prose]. Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Ser.: Rossiĭskaia i zarubezhnaia filologiia [Perm University Herald. Ser.: Russian and Foreign Philology], 2010, no. 6 (12), pp. 209–214. (In Russ.) Prudius I.G. Osmyslenie lichnoi (foto)istorii v avtofiktsional'nom graficheskom romane S. Kvernelanna «Mertv po sobstvennomu zhelaniyu» [The reflexion on the personal (photo) story in Steffen Kverneland’s autofictional graphic novel “A voluntary death”]. Vestnik Kostromskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Vestnik of Kostroma State University], 2025, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 62–70. (In Russ.) Tsvetkova M.V., Krizskaya E.V. Komiks N. Batler «Gordost' i predubezhdenie» kak variant prochteniya odnoimennogo romana Dzh. Ostin [N. Butler’s Comic “Pride and Prejudice” as a version of reading Jane Austen’s Novel]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Ser.: Yazyk i literature [Vestnik of Saint-Petersburg University. Ser.: Language and Literature], 2020, vol. 17, iss. 2, pp. 217–231. (In Russ.) Uspenskii B.A. Poetika kompozitsii [Poetics of Composition]. St. Petersburg, Azbuka Publ., 2000, 352 p. (In Russ.) Zhanrovaia palitra zarubezhnoĭ literatury: kollektivnaia monografiia [The Genre Palette of Foreign Literature: A Collective Study]. Moscow, Iazyki narodov mira Publ., 2025, 265 p. (In Russ.) Baetens J. Le roman graphique: La bande dessinée: une médiaculture. Paris, Armand Colin, 2012, pp. 200–216. (Médiacultures). Brandidge E. Archéologie du roman graphique. Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 2013, 320 p. Chute H. Comics as literature? Reading graphic narrative. Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, 2008, no. 123 (2), pp. 452–465. Groensteen T. La bande dessinée: une littérature graphique. Toulouse, Milan, Les Essentiels Milan, 2005, 63 p. Romero-Jódar A. Comic Books and Graphic Novels in their Generic Context: Towards a Definition and Classification of Narrative Iconical Texts. ATLANTIS. Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies, 2013, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 117–135. Viart D. Fictions biographiques. La Littérature française au présent. Héritage, modernité, mutations. Paris, Bordas, 2008, pp. 99–124.