Biography
Originally from Denmark, Frederik joined Napier after many years in England, Canada, and the US. His current research focuses on issues of representation in visual and literary culture, with an emphasis on comics and graphic novels.
He is the author of several articles about comics on topics including trauma, anarchism, and the representation of racial whiteness. His book Serial Selves: Identity and Representation in Autobiographical Comics was published by Rutgers University Press in 2019. With a focus on the comics form’s ability to produce alternative and challenging autobiographical narratives, the book investigates the work of artists writing from perspectives of marginality including gender, sexuality, disability, and race, as well as trauma.
His most recent books include a critical biography about influential Canadian comics artist Chester Brown and an edited book of short comics narratives based on academic research, titled Crossing Lines: Comics about Human Migration.
In addition, he is the editor of Chicago: A Literary History from Cambridge University Press and the author of The Chicago Literary Experience: Writing the City, 1893-1953.
Frederik also edits the two companion book series Routledge Focus on Gender, Sexuality, and Comics Studies and Routledge Research in Gender, Sexuality, and Comics Studies, both of which are currently accepting proposals.
His various research activities has been supported by the Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-East England (CHASE), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC), the Danish Council for Independent Research | Humanities, and the US Fulbright Program, among many others.
Besides comics, graphic novels, and the cultural history of Chicago, Frederik's teaching and research interests include visual culture, film studies, genre fiction, autobiography, and various pop culture-related topics. He welcomes postgraduate students in all of these areas.