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For Žižek (Violence: Six Sideways Reflections, 2008) the apparently imperceptible aspects of ‘objective’ violence perpetuate the cycle of visible, subjective violence. The representation of violence – itself a necessary and necessarily brutal process – intimately involves one in ‘invisible’ violence. Therefore, the search for an ethical representation of violence becomes crucial. An ethical representation of violence compels a reconsideration of the ‘invisible’ aspects of violence. Approaching the ‘invisible’ aspects of violence, while still preserving their indiscernible qualities, requires such violence to be represented indirectly. A close reading/viewing of two recent (2009) graphic narratives, Folman and Polonsky'sWaltz with Bashir: A Lebanon War Storyand Joe Sacco'sFootnotes in Gaza, demonstrates the indirect representation of some ineffable aspects of violence. This representation differs from either ‘knowing’ or ‘seeing’ violence. In this representation categories such as the ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’ or ‘knowing’ and ‘seeing’ come to co-exist in dynamic tension, inflecting reality with obscurities and uncomfortable occlusions, while remaining a vital part of the quality of the experience of violence. This article argues that graphic narratives are particularly well placed to represent ‘invisible’ violence and thus provide an ideal example of an aesthetic form that is able to approach an ethical representation of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In disallowing the inaccuracies of memory to infiltrate stories of war, one condemns oneself to remain forever blinded by the obvious, shielded from the invisible violence that often lurks beneath the visible. Following Žižek, this article posits that invisible violence should be glimpsed indirectly, through aesthetic representations often excluded from the annals of the official history of war. The argument is made through a close reading of Joe Sacco's representation of the 1956 Khan Younis massacre as depicted inFootnotes in Gaza. In this text, Sacco himself and Omm Nafez – one of the protagonists of his story – express, in detail, their memories of the massacre, despite the initial reluctance of the media and publishing houses to publish their accounts. The position of Sacco and Omm Nafez is described as being that of ‘productive myopia’ because the inaccuracies and confusions that their accounts accommodate – instead of being limiting – are considered an avenue through which they may approach what has hitherto been invisible in other accounts of this massacre. Nora's validation of memory as way of producing knowledge and Žižek's notion of invisible/objective violence as an important driver of the visible/subjective cycle of violence are used to show how these memories may be inserted into the realm of history by embracing their shadows and complexities rather than disallowing them. It is conjectured that doing this may allow one to glimpse aspects of violence that have remained hitherto unseen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]