Something Black in the American Psyche: Formal Innovation and Freudian Imagery in the Comics of Winsor McCay and Robert Crumb

2010/07/27 by Edward A. Shannon · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Comics and Graphic Narratives #Themes in Literature Analysis #American and British Literature Analysis #Psyche #Freudian slip #Comics #Art #Literature #Psychoanalysis #Psychology

paper · doi:10.3138/cras.40.2.187

openalex publication_date 2010/07/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland anticipates Robert Crumb’s work. McCay’s innocent dreamscapes seem antithetical to the sexually explicit work of anti-capitalist Crumb, but Nemo looks forward to Crumb in subject and form. Nemo’s presentation of class, gender, and race, and its pre-Freudian sensibility are ironic counterpoints to Crumb’s political, Freudian comix.

Cited by

• Robert Crumb [wikipedia]
• Winsor McCay [wikipedia]

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