Wikipedia

Donald Ault

Donald D. Ault(/ɔːlt/AWLT;October 5, 1942[1]– April 13, 2019) was an American academic who was a professor at theUniversity of Floridaand is primarily known for his work on BritishRomantic poetWilliam Blake,British physicistSir Isaac Newtonand American comics artistCarl Barks.He is also known as a foundational figure in the development of Americancomics studies,and was the General Editor of the academic journal devoted to comics calledImageTexT.

Donald Ault
Born(1942-10-05)October 5, 1942
Canton, Ohio,U.S.
DiedApril 13, 2019(2019-04-13)(aged 76)
Gainesville, Florida,U.S.
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Chicago
Academic work
DisciplineLiterary studies,comics studies
InstitutionsUniversity of Florida

Career

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Donald Ault graduated from theUniversity of Chicagoin 1968, after completing work on his dissertation tracing the conflict between British physicistSir Isaac NewtonandWilliam Blake.Since then, he has taught atUniversity of California, Berkeley,Vanderbilt University,and theUniversity of Florida.

Working with William Blake

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Ault's interests are wide and include everything fromRomantic poetrytopsychophysics,holography,psychoanalysis,deconstruction,typography,mathematical notation,and the history ofanimation.At Berkeley in 1972–74, he instituted curriculum changes by creating English 176 ( “Literature and Popular Culture” ) and English 177 ( “Literature and Philosophy” ). Ault's first bookVisionary Physics: Blake's Response to Newton,an extended version of his dissertation, dealt with the complex relationship between Blake and Newton. The book won wide acclaim among Blake critics, and quickly became a foundational book in the field. He also published the most exhaustive book on Blake's visionary poemValacalledNarrative Unbound: Re-Visioning William Blake's The Four Zoas.After readingNarrative Unbound,Jerome McGanncalled Ault "probably the most innovative Blake critic in the country"[2]Ault has published numerous articles on William Blake, including the notable "Where's Poppa? or, The Defeminization of Blake's Little Black Boy."[3]which utilized "anomalous textual details" and turned attention away from the obvious racial issues present in the poem focusing on the more subtle politics of gender difference. He ends the essay with the note that, in a dream, he "showed this manuscript to Blake, who told me that he was 'not uncomfortable' with my reading of 'The Little Black Boy.' "[4]While such comments have alienated some members of the Blake studies community,[citation needed]they are part and parcel of his criticism which highlights the textual minutae, visionary complexity, and visual oddity of Blake's work.

Donald Ault and Donald Duck

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Ault also worked closely with Disney comic artistCarl Barksand participated in a number of interviews with him. Ault's forays into"comics studies"revolve around his encounter with Barks' work onDonald Duck.Ault sees Barks creating a surreal environment for theDisneycharacters in which what happens

happens outside normal visual space. It cannot happen, but it does--and with apparent ease. In film, a technique of rapid crosscutting would quickly disorient the viewer; but Barks' shifts in perspective--precisely because they are anchored in the simultaneity of the panels on a comic page--ground us in a coherent imaginative world.[5]

Ault created controversy atVanderbilt Universityfor teaching comics in university classes,[citation needed]and was featured in several newspaper articles about his work as well as a segment onEntertainment Tonight.Ault edited a volume of interviews with the Disney artist,Carl Barks: Conversations,in 2003, and also was executive producer and editorial supervisor for the videotape productionThe Duck Man: An Interview with Carl Barks(1996).

ImageTexT

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In 2004, Ault founded theacademic journalImageText.ImageTextpromotes

the academic study of comic books, comic strips, and animated cartoons. Under the guidance of an editorial board of scholars from a variety of disciplines,ImageTexTpublishes solicited and peer-reviewed papers that investigate the material, historical, theoretical, and cultural implications of visual textuality.ImageTexTwelcomes essays emphasizing (but not limited to) the aesthetics, cognition, production, reception, distribution and dissemination of comics and other media as they relate to comics, along with translations of previously existing research on comics as dimensions of visual culture.[6]

Selected bibliography

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References

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  1. ^Evory, Ann (1979).Contemporary Authors: A Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Nonfiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Televis.Gale Research International, Limited.ISBN9780810300460.
  2. ^See the Station Hill page onNarrative Unboundat"Ault".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-05-03.Retrieved2007-04-16.["Ault".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-05-03.Retrieved2007-04-16.].
  3. ^Out of Bounds: Male Writers and Gender(ed) Criticism.Ed. Laura Claridge and Elizabeth Langland. Amherst, MA: Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 1990: 126-153.
  4. ^See "Where's Poppa?" pg. 88
  5. ^Quoted from "Visual Narrative in ‘Vacation Time.’" TheCarl Barks Libraryof Walt Disney's Donald Duck,Vol. 6. Ed. Bruce Hamilton. Prescott, AZ: Another Rainbow Publications, 1990: 765-768.
  6. ^See the editorial statement forImageTextathttp://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/.
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