Lesson Plan: Fiction

I chose The Sandman series for a fiction lesson on intertextuality and an introduction to literary theory. For one, it's an interesting graphic novel likely to capture the attention of students, for another, it's a damn fine work. If you don't know Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, go read one; they're fantastic.

Jenn Miller
Professing Literature
David Jolliffe
March 7, 2007

Fiction Lesson Plan: Neil Gaiman’s Sandman

Focus: Ask the student to think about “text” (as in utterances, films, books, music, etc), and take a few moments to write down an example of something they’ve seen, heard, or read that in some ways refers to another text. (An example could be The Lord of the Rings film viewers would either watch with the books—or some notion of the books—in mind and that would affect how they receive the film).

Have the students share their examples with the rest of the class. At this point, briefly introduce the terms intertextuality and further explain what theorists mean by “text”. Point out (if students don’t bring them up) the pervasive use of intertextuality in pop culture, such as The Simpsons and Gilmore Girls which use intertextuality for humor—it’s not funny if a reader is not aware what the show is referring to.

Purpose: By the end of class, students will have a basic understanding of the concept of intertextuality and how understanding this concept can both enrich the experience of art, and lead to greater ability to interpret and understand what’s going on in film, music, graphic novels, and literature. Students should be understand that reading a text involves more than just the text itself; outside information, context, and the reader’s own experience becomes involved in the interpretation of text.

Overview: We’re going to use The Sandman as a spring board into a deeper exploration of intertextuality and how it can be used in both the creation and interpretation of art. I’ll explain some basic concepts, and then we’ll discuss how they work in The Sandman.

Lecture/discussion: Since The Sandman is a series of ten graphic novels, I’m going to show other selections of The Sandman besides the assigned reading, and discuss the way intertextuality plays within Gaiman’s art. The Sandman has one overarching narrative that is developed throughout all the works in the series, but it also has stories that seemingly don’t feed that narrative. Sometimes a minor character from one story will show up in another, as with the character Barbie from The Doll’s House shows up as the main character in A Game of You. There’s an interaction of texts within Gaiman’s work, but then there’s the actual nature of the graphic novels—Gaiman writes the stories, but several artists, each with their own style, draws the illustrations that go with the stories. Gaiman also is constantly referring to mythology, the Bible, Shakespeare, Milton, and other writers—intentional intertextuality—which he uses in his creation of art. The Sandman is actually a re-writing of an older comic book series, one to which he refers to briefly in the first book, Preludes and Nocturnes.

Some questions to get discussion rolling: What instances of other texts do you see Gaiman consciously using in The Sandman? On the flip side, do you see examples of unconscious intertextuality? (i.e. what does it remind you of?). How do you see the interaction among texts (words or other forms of “text”) playing into the creation of new text? Is it vital to creating a work that is rich and interesting?

Closure: Ask students to think about the role of intertextuality when they’re watching TV that evening, or reading a book or magazine, to consciously recognize that text can interact with other text. Also ask them to start thinking about what they’d like to do their projects on.Project: To be due in two weeks—a creative project consciously incorporating intertextuality. It will have two parts: the creative piece and a reflective piece. The creative piece can be a short story, a painting, a poem, a short film, a song, or a comic, etc (if the student is not sure about their idea, they will be encouraged to ask about it). The reflective piece will be a short essay detailing the student’s creative choices, what examples of conscious intertextuality s/he found, and if s/he discovered any unconscious examples through the writing of the reflection.

Project: To be due in two weeks—a creative project consciously incorporating intertextuality. It will have two parts: the creative piece and a reflective piece. The creative piece can be a short story, a painting, a poem, a short film, a song, or a comic, etc (if the student is not sure about their idea, they will be encouraged to ask about it). The reflective piece will be a short essay detailing the student’s creative choices, what examples of conscious intertextuality s/he found, and if s/he discovered any unconscious examples through the writing of the reflection.