The Book of Stone: Architecture, Memory, and the Graphic Novel

This paper looks to explore the contemporary graphic novel as a platform to engage with the city and architectural space as an experiential, lived, site as well as an archive of personal and collective memories and histories. It looks at graphic novels that present architecture and the urban environment as an active character within the novel, and their portrayal of historical and psychological dimensions embedded within built space. The visual structure of the comic, with its forms of representations and unique temporalities are taken into consideration as this thesis explores how these works become a viable form of research into the urban environment, portraying how architecture and urban space is an active force in shaping and influencing the lives of its inhabitants