The Rise of the Graphic Novel: Computational Criticism and the Evolution of Literary Value, Alexander Dunst (2023).

This review examines Alexander Dunst’s *The Rise of the Graphic Novel: Computational Criticism and the Evolution of Literary Value* (2023), which investigates the transformation of comics into graphic narratives—book-length comics aimed at adults—using computational methods and cultural sociology. Drawing on a dataset called the Graphic Narrative Corpus (GNC), Dunst analyzes trends in length, genre, visual style, and representation, arguing that the rise of graphic narratives reflects broader shifts in U.S. middle-class cultural consumption and involves a process he terms "aesthetic gentrification." The book critiques prevailing scholarly assumptions about graphic novels, highlights class and diversity issues within the medium, and situates its findings within Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological framework. While the review notes limitations in the corpus’s scope—such as exclusions of self-published, webcomics, and youth-oriented works—and some minor factual errors, it recognizes the book’s significant contribution to comics studies through its innovative combination of computational analysis and sociological critique.