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American Comics, Literary Theory, and Religion: The Superhero Afterlife
American Comics Literary Theory and Religion The Superhero Afterlife Author:A. David Lewis Superheroes venture so frequently into the afterlife that the recurring conventions constitute a distinct subgenre. These generic elements can reassure readers of various preconceptions, or the new subgenre could mask alternate understandings of narrative character and the self. Superhero Afterlife links genre theorists' (e.g. Paul Ricoeur, Tzve... more »tan Todorov) audience models for selfhood to Helene Tallon Russell, J. Hillis Miller, and Karin Kukkonen warning against narrative characters being understood as whole and unified a priori when the idea of a multiple self better matches with the goals of religious pluralism and healthful self-understanding. Jeffery Burton Russell and Andrew Delbanco sees Americans divesting from Augustinian models of singular selfhood. As H.T. Russell urges, this model may serve more as a relic than as a useful system for selfhood.« less