Distant and exacting, bruce bechdel was an english teacher and director of the town funeral home, which alison and her family referred to as the fun home. Fun home creator alison bechdel on turning a tragic. Its like reading someones diary, because essentially it is someones diary, but this has to be the most painstakingly artful diary ever created. A family tragicomic ebook written by alison bechdel. Fun home creator alison bechdel on turning a tragic childhood into a hit musical.
Bechdel builds the narrative around the tragic event of her fathers death. Distant and exacting, bruce bechdel was an english teacher and director of the town funeral. A family tragicomic is a 2006 graphic memoir by the american cartoonist alison bechdel, author of the comic strip dykes to watch out for. Jun 08, 2006 alison bechdels comicform autobiography fun home. And i pushed myself to engage with my family in an honest way for years. A family tragicomic explores the absurdities of alison bechdel s upbringing while simultaneously delivering them as exquisite truths. As alison grows older and realizes that she is a lesbian, she and bruce are both forced to confront how his repression may have affected her own selfimage and the. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read fun home.
Like marjane satrapis persepolis, its a story exhilaratingly suited to graphic memoir form. Fun home is alison bechdels graphic memoir of her life growing up. A family tragicomic is a graphic memoir by alison bechdel. Alison bechdel has been a careful archivist of her own life and kept a. Putting the fun back in funeral and spicing it with tenderness, grit and regret, alison bechdels memoir fun home.
In her hands, personal history becomes a work of amazing subtlety and power, written with controlled force and enlivened with humor, rich literary allusion, and heartbreaking detail. See all 9 formats and editions hide other formats and editions. A family tragicomic is a memoir about bechdel s family that deals with, among other subjects, her. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of fun home by alison bechdel. Bechdels memoir offers a graphic narrative of uncommon richness, depth, literary resonance and psychological complexity. It chronicles the authors childhood and youth in rural pennsylvania, united states, focusing on her complex relationship with her father. Alison bechdel this book takes its place alongside the unnerving, memorable, darkly funny family memoirs of augusten burroughs and mary karr. Its like reading someones diary, because essentially it is someones diary, but this has to. A family tragicomic is a graphic novel memoir by american cartoonist alison bechdel.
Equal parts kunstlerroman, psychoanalytic case study, and literary criticism, alison bechdel s graphic memoir, fun home. Fun home provides a creatively complicated depiction of sexuality and. A family tragicomic is a memoir about bechdels family. A family tragicomic is an autobiographical graphic novel by american comic writer and artist alison bechdel. Alison bechdel is the author of the bestselling memoir fun home. Amid the tensions of her home life, alison discovers her own lesbian sexuality and her talent for. Nov 05, 2017 fun home creator alison bechdel on turning a tragic childhood into a hit musical. In this groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir, alison bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father. Pdf fun home a family tragicomic ebooks includes pdf. Aug 26, 2015 this years choice was fun home, an acclaimed 2006 graphic memoir by alison bechdel. Set in part at a familyrun funeral home, the book explores alisons complicated relationship with her father, a closeted gay man.
This great graphic novel, first published in 2006, has received many praises by critics and won some awards. Equal parts kunstlerroman, psychoanalytic case study, and literary criticism, alison bechdels graphic memoir, fun home. Alison bechdels cult following for her early comic strip dykes to watch out for expanded wildly for her family memoirs, the bestselling graphic memoir fun home, adapted into a tony awardwinning musical, and are you my mother. The story focuses on her growing up in rural pennsylvania, living under her oppressive father, bruce, a highschool teacher and funeral home director. One of the longestrunning queer comic strips, dykes to watch out for is over 20 years old, has been syndicated in hundreds of papers, released in over.
Prior to its publication, bechdel was best known for her longrunning cult comic strip, dykes to watch out for, which followed a series of diverse characters between 1983 and 2008. A family tragicomic library binding june 5 2007 by alison bechdel author 4. Fun home, subtitled a family tragicomic, is a 2006 graphic memoir by the american writer alison bechdel, author of the comic strip. Fun home creator alison bechdel on turning a tragic childhood.
I guess i dont know why i do the books calls itself a family tragicomic, and you could definitely argue that its more a book. A memoir that sees itself as a kind of fiction, fun home. Fun home a family tragicomic is the latest work from the highly skilled, insightful, neurotic and wryhumored pen of alison bechdel, best known for her dykes to watch out for comic strip. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Lately ive been reading a few graphic novels and comics, very simple and light. From the bestselling author of fun home, time magazines no. Jun 05, 2007 fun home paperback a family tragicomic. A family tragicomic is a graphic memoir by alison bechdel tracing her journey from young girl to young adult as she comes to grips with her own lesbian sexuality, her father bruce s most likely suicide, and his secret homosexuality or bisexuality that he kept hidden throughout his life while having affairs with underage boys the memoir starts with alison as a young girl. Fun home is a 2006 comic memoir by alison bechdel, creator of dykes to watch out for. A family tragicomic is a graphic novel memoir of the authors childhood, particularly focused on her relationship with her closeted gay father bruce. The strip is syndicated in fifty alternative newspapers, translated into multiple. Old father, old artificer page 1 from alison bechdels fun home. Sep 16, 2016 back cover of alison bechdels phenomenal graphic novel fun home.
Alison bechdel books list of books by author alison bechdel. At times there are moments when she and her father are close, usually around books. The books first full drawing on the title page of chapter one is, in fact, a recreation of an old photograph of the enigmatic man. Its a fatherdaughter tale pitchperfectly illustrated with bechdel s sweetly gothic drawings and like marjane satrapis persepolis a story exhilaratingly suited to the graphic memoir form. This awardwinning book has successfully gained critical acclaims and also some controversy.
As alison grows older and realizes that she is a lesbian, she and bruce are both forced to confront how his repression may have affected her own selfimage and the way that she dealt with her sexuality. Particularly revealing is a snapshot of a certain letter from father to daughter, because his indecipherable handwriting means all the reader has is. This breakout book by alison bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitchperfectly illustrated with bechdel s sweetly gothic drawings. Alison s difficulty in articulating and describing her fathers sexuality is tangled in her struggle to know herself. The autobiography traces bechdels childhood and teenage years and focuses on alisons fraught relationship with her father. In this first chapter, bechdel introduces her father and recollects her relationship with him in her childhood. The graphic memoir fun home starts with the adult alison bechdel narrating over images of her childhood. As an alternative, the kindle ebook is available now and can be read on any device with. The main characters of this sequential art, graphic novels story are. A family tragicomic, frames the development of a lesbian identity through the strategic use of visual and verbal representation of memories, interpretive acts, and the use of specific literary texts as transitional objects bookish and nostalgic, alison the narrator weaves. Bechdel s rich language and precise images combine to create a lush piece of work a memoir where.
Bruce and helen had been living in europe, but the death of. This years choice was fun home, an acclaimed 2006 graphic memoir by alison bechdel. Jun 05, 2007 fun home delivers the tragedy in bechdels life with comedic aplomb, illustrating key scenes from her childhood and adolescence in a cartoon style that harks back to the comics that came before. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 232 pages and is available in paperback format. A family tragicomic explores the absurdities of alison bechdels upbringing while simultaneously delivering them as exquisite truths. Alison bechdel has been a careful archivist of her own life and kept a journal since she was ten. Burlington book festival 2006 september 15, 2006 cartoonist and author alison bechdel reads from her new, critically acclaimed graphic memoir fun home with a. The memoir explores bechdels journey from childhood to college student to adult in relation to both her identity as a lesbian and her dynamic with her family, particularly her father who is a closeted gay man. The first edition of the novel was published in june 8th 2006, and was written by alison bechdel. In alison bechdels fun home, the story is crafted through a lens of intertextuality between the characteristics of people in her life and those in great literary works such as james joyces ulysses. Bechdels rich language and precise images combine to create a lush piece of work a memoir where. A family tragicomic, by alison bechdel the new york.
Its a fatherdaughter tale pitchperfectly illustrated with bechdels sweetly gothic drawings and like marjane satrapis persepolis a story exhilaratingly suited to the graphic memoir form. It was not until college that alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. Bechdel has been named a macarthur fellow and cartoonist laureate of vermont, among many other honors. First published in 2006, this graphic novel has received highly positive acclaim from critics. Coming out in college, she must now come home for her. Though bechdel known for her syndicated dykes to watch out for strip and collections takes her formal cues from comic books, she receives more inspiration from the likes of proust and joyce as she attempts to unravel the knots of her familys twisted emotional. The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, dysfunctional family. Fun home is what she and her brothers called the familyowned funeral home her dad ran. The first panel shows alison approaching her father bruce, who is lying on the floor and puts his feet in the middle of her chest to launch her in the air for a game of airplane. Since 1983 she has been chronicling the lives of various characters in the fictionalized dykes to watch out for strip, one of the preeminent oeuvres in the comics genre, period ms.
A family tragicomic is a graphic memoir by alison bechdel tracing her journey from young girl to young adult as she comes to grips with her own lesbian sexuality, her father bruce s most likely suicide, and his secret homosexuality or bisexuality that he kept hidden throughout his life while having affairs with underage boys. A family tragicomic grabs you from the first page and never lets go. Alison bechdels fun home and michel foucaults repressive hypothesis the valley of the shadow of text. Alisons difficulty in articulating and describing her fathers sexuality is tangled in her struggle to know herself. A family tragicomic has quickly joined the ranks of celebrated literary graphic novels. A family tragicomedy is a memoir chronicling the authors coming outcomingofage story in the form of a graphic novel. The autobiography traces bechdel s childhood and teenage years and focuses on alison s fraught relationship with her father. This breakout book by alison bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitchperfectly illustrated with bechdels sweetly gothic drawings. A fresh and brilliantly told memoir from a cult favorite comic artist, marked by gothic twists, a family funeral home, sexual angst, and great books. This breakout book by alison bechdel takes its place alongside the unnerving, memorable, darkly funny family memoirs of augusten burroughs and mary karr. Its a fatherdaughter tale perfectly suited to the graphic memoir form. In this graphic memoir, alison bechdel charts her fraught relationship. In this groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir, alison bechdel charts. A masterpiece about two people who live in the same.
Paperback, spanish 11292016 prebound 612007 paperback 1012006. Alison says the discomfort caused by the pressure to her stomach was well worth the rare physical contact. Much like how joyces ulysses is a story dependent upon a framing of intertextuality between his work and homers odyssey, bechdels fun home has a method of storytelling crafted through. This graphic novel tells the story about what is was to the author, alison bechdel, growing up in these circumstances. It focuses specifically on her parents, helen and bruce, and their role in her life. Fun home is what she and her brothers called the family owned funeral home her dad ran. Fun home creator alison bechdel on turning a tragic childhood into. Described by the times of london as a profound and important book fun home. A family tragicomic inglese copertina flessibile 5 giugno 2007. Alison again uses a fictional myth as a way to understand her fathers behavior, and, further, by comparing the bechdel family home to daedaluss labyrinth, alison hints at the darker secret of the home.
This breakout book by alison bechdel takes its place alongside the unnerving, memorable, darkly. A family tragi ic is a graphic memoir by alison bechdel. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Jun 05, 2007 distant and exacting, bruce bechdel was an english teacher and director of the town funeral home, which alison and her family referred to as the fun home. Young alison bechdel lives in pennsylvania with helen, bruce, and her little brothers christian and john.