Comic literature in France (book review)

With Comic Literature in France Emeritus Professor Lloyd Bishop has undertaken an academic project on a grand scale. Bishop is himself the first to recognise the size of his gamble, and his book can only be properly judged in accordance with its own objectives. From the outset Bishop makes it clear that he is targeting the generalist reader and not the specialist. As part of the latter category, I began by asking myself why somebody would want to read such a book, and whether such a hypothetical reader would be satisfied. As my specialist field is twentieth-century French literature, I found it an easy task to posit myself as an undergraduate student with an interest in the Middle Ages, the subject of the first chapter of Comic Literature in France. I found Bishop's tone to be pitched at the right level, and it is in this matter of tone that I feel this book is most successful.