«Besonders an der Verknappung und Entschlackung stossen sich die Germanisten». Nicolas Mahlers Kunstbetriebs-Comics als kleine Formen inter- und transmedialen Erzählens

[«Germanists take particular exception to processes of condensation and purification». Nicolas Mahler’s comics about the culture industry as short forms of inter- and transmedial narration]

Abstract

This article focuses on the comics of the Austrian artist Nicolas Mahler. Selected comics from Franz Kafkas nonstop Lachmaschine (2014) will be analysed as ‘minimalistic form’ and inter-spatial phenomena. In Mahler’s so-called ‘graphic anecdotes’, inter- and transmediality become evident in a variety of ways: in the form and organization of anthology, the construction of pseudo-epigraphs, and the accentuation of ‘transition’ and ‘in-between’. As they address and reflect on the position of comics in the literary field, they also contribute to the current discussion about graphic narrative