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Collecting for Closure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2024

Darren Hudson Hick
Darren Hudson Hick*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Furman University, Greenville, SC, USA
*
Email: darrenhick@hotmail.com
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Abstract

In this paper, I consider a peculiar feature of the aesthetics of collecting comics: collecting to complete a narrative. Unlike other forms of narrative engagement, comics are often read out of narrative sequence, and so collectors hunt for missing issues to fill in an incomplete story, leading to a “gappy” experience of the narrative. This “gappy” experience, I argue, has its own aesthetic quality and value, and I connect my analysis of the experience to both classical Kantian aesthetics and contemporary neuropsychology.

Keywords

aestheticscomicscollectingclosureneuropsychologySEARCHING
Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , First View , pp. 1 - 10
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Inc.

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Footnotes

This paper is about the aesthetics of collecting—and, in particular, a feature of collecting comics. There has not been a lot written about the aesthetics of collecting, and what little has been written has mostly focused on the aesthetics of a collection. I am interested, instead, in something aesthetic in the act of collecting.

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