The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 232 pages and is available in paperback format. Fun home creator alison bechdel on turning a tragic. First published in 2006, this graphic novel has received. An arthrological study of alison bechdels fun home. Some see fun home as having been a turning point for graphic novels. It focuses specifically on her parents, helen and bruce, and their role in her life. Fun home while reading alison bechdels graphic novel, fun home, i found myself engaging with the text in a manner im not used to.
Fun home, the tony awardwinning show based on alison bechdels graphic memoir, combines textured character psychology and nuanced storytelling. The musical version was a finalist for a pulitzer prize in drama and won three tony awards. Fun home is a musical adapted by lisa kron and jeanine tesori from alison bechdels 2006 graphic memoir of the same name. Bechdels memoir offers a graphic narrative of uncommon richness, depth, literary resonance and psychological complexity. On the surface, alison bechdels fun home seems simply to be a memoir of her journey towards discovering her own identity, and in the process, uncovering her fathers. It may be that the problems with the opening mythic allusion of the icarusdaedalus relationship coloured the remainder of. A family tragicomic is a graphic memoir that led alison bechdel.
In this graphic memoir, alison bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father. Students read, discuss, and write about graphic novels exploring issues of power, sexuality, race, gender, class, and identity. Graphic novel special comics and graphic novels interview. The graphic novel is not linear in the least, and mimics memory as it moves backwards. Fun home is alison bechdels graphic memoir of her life growing up. First published in 2006, this graphic novel has received highly positive acclaim from critics.
Fun home creator alison bechdel on turning a tragic childhood into. In fact, an analysis of goodreads statistics shows increased interest in the graphic novel. The role of gender and literature in alison bechdels fun. Equal parts kunstlerroman, psychoanalytic case study, and literary criticism, alison bechdels graphic memoir, fun home. The acclaimed graphic novelist on exposing her family, appearing in. Fun home is a graphic memoir in which alison bechdel describes her childhood and early adulthood.
A family tragicomic, by alison bechdel the new york. Alison bechdels fun home is one such example of a graphic novel making use of comics as a means of opening a discourse about the scars family members leave on their children and finding some form of closure through sharing these stories with. This course explores the history and development of the graphic novel, a hybrid genre that combines visual and written textual elements. Fun home creator alison bechdel on turning a tragic childhood into a hit musical rachel cooke. Student protests alison bechdels fun home artnet news. Created for a literature in popular culture class about the graphic novel, this podcast is a visual literary criticism that analyzes the role of fiction in autobiography through a discussion of. Distant and exacting, bruce bechdel was an english teacher and. Fun home centres on her life with her father and how they coped with their differences. A family tragicomic is a graphic novel memoir by american. Its the story of her growing up, her coming of age. 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 bruces most likely suicide, and his secret homosexuality or bisexuality that he kept hidden throughout his life. Fun home study guide contains a biography of alison bechdel, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary. Reminiscent of art spiegelmans maus, fun home explores the.
One of the most eagerly anticipated graphic memoirs of recent years, fun home is a darkly. Fun home is a graphic novel written by alison bechdel, who is well known for her long running comic series, dykes to watch out for. It has won several award and was nominated for 2007 eisner awards. The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, dysfunctional family. There are three major reoccurring themes throughout the graphic memoir fun home by alison bechdel. Ultimately, the south carolina legislatures attack on fun home did little to dampen the popularity of the book. It chronicles the authors childhood and youth in rural pennsylvania, united states, focusing on her complex relationship with her father. Bechdel builds the narrative around the tragic event of her fathers death. Fun home themes from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. This witty graphic novel focused on family relationships, sexual orientation and grief resonates with a comforting honesty and. A family tragicomic is an autobiographical graphic novel by american comic writer and artist alison bechdel. If the theoretical value of a picture is still holding steady at a thousand words, then alison bechdels slim yet proustian graphic memoir, fun home, must be the most ingeniously compact, hyper. Alison bechdels fun home and michel foucaults repressive hypothesis the valley of the shadow of text.
More specifically, fun home is the story of alisons coming of age while grappling with her lesbian gender identity and the way that identity differs from the expectations imposed on her by. Fun home has since made the leap to the stage, first as an offbroadway musical adaptation before launching to tony awardwinning, mainstream fame. The visual rhetoric of graphic novels course description. The tony awardwinning musical fun home traces the comingofage of lesbian author alison bechdel, from her youth, to her years at oberlin college, and finally to the present, where alison, now grown, is struggling to write her own graphic autobiography. Fun home study guide contains a biography of alison bechdel, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. The first edition of the novel was published in june 8th 2006, and was written by alison bechdel. Bruce and helen had been living in europe, but the death of. Putting the fun back in funeral and spicing it with tenderness, grit and regret, alison bechdels memoir fun home. And yet, apart from assigned stints dusting caskets at the familyowned fun home, as alison and her brothers call it, the relationship achieves its most. The last and only other graphic novel i read is maus by art spieglemanand.
Although the superhero genre dominates the graphic fiction scene, one of the earliest graphic novels, released as a picture novel, was a hardboiled type of mystery with an ordinary mortal. Duke freshmen boycott acclaimed graphic novel fun home. A family tragicomic is a graphic memoir that led alison bechdel to commercial and critical success. A family tragicomic is a graphic memoir that led alison bechdel to. When alison came out to her parents as a lesbian, a few months later. 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. The creators of sparknotes fun home themes from litcharts. Young alison bechdel lives in pennsylvania with helen, bruce, and her little brothers christian and john. Duke freshmen boycott acclaimed graphic novel fun home over religious beliefs these freshmen have already flunked the bechdel test. An analysis of fun home by alison bechdel using understanding comics by scott mccloud once again, i really really enjoyed this graphic novel. Student asks college to ban fun home and other pornographic graphic novels sarah cascone, june 17, 2015 a page from neil gaiman, the sandman, vol. I have been somewhat surprised at the fact that these authors have chosen to express such serious and heavy subjects through the. Its like reading someones diary, because essentially it is someones diary, but this has to be the most painstakingly artful diary ever created.
The book has successfully gained critical acclaims and also some controversy. Fun home is a hard book, butfilled with love and hate and glory and discontent and tragedy and hopeits also a powerful one. Fun home is what she and her brothers called the familyowned funeral home her dad ran. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of fun home by alison bechdel. Having never felt much inclination toward the graphic novel genre, i accepted a copy of fun home by alison bechdel on loan only because a coworker promised that i could finish it in one hour and forty minutesalmost precisely the amount of time it would take to travel from the office to my home in connecticut, where i had plans to spend the weekend.
Burlington book festival 2006 september 15, 2006 cartoonist and author alison bechdel reads from her new, critically acclaimed graphic memoir fun home with a slide presentation as accompaniment. My realization at nineteen that i was a lesbian came about in a manner consistent with my bookish upbringing. Essay on the experience of teaching fun home, and why. Fun home summary from litcharts the creators of sparknotes.
Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. Reminiscent of art spiegelmans maus, fun home explores the relationship. This fun home weaves tragedy and comedy into a wholly. Throughout the memoir both alison and her father struggle in the face. A family tragicomic is a 2006 graphic memoir by the american cartoonist alison bechdel, author of the comic strip dykes to watch out for.
The main characters of this sequential art, graphic novels story are. Retelling traumatic experience in alison bechdels fun home. A family tragicomic is a graphic memoir by alison bechdel tracing her journey from young girl to young adult as she comes to grips. One of the very best graphic novels ever, booklist. But fun home quietly succeeds in telling a story, not only through. A family tragicomic is a graphic memoir by alison bechdel. A family tragicomic, an awesome graphic novel by american cartoonist alison bechdel. Dublin bound i didnt understand why we couldnt just read books without forcing contorted interpretations on them.
Fun home as the chosen summer reading material by citing that its depictions of lesbian. Alison bechdels graphic memoir fun home has received critical raves. Fun home written by best selling author and american. Fun home, the musical adaptation of alison bechdels graphicnovel memoir, won the night at sundays tony awards, a triumph that capped a groundbreaking ceremony where women collected trophies. A contract with god adaptation akira alan moore anime art asterios polyp batman color comic. Despite these successes, some students in duke universitys incoming class refused to read fun home when it was placed on their recommended summer reading list. The book touches upon many themes, including, but not limited to, the following. Citing the books acceptance of lesbian identity, these students said they believe that exposing. A family tragicomic grabs you from the first page and never lets go. The role of gender and literature in alison bechdels fun home. Reminiscent of art spiegelmans maus, fun home explores the relationship between alison and her closeted father, bruce bechdel, to shed light on themes such as gender, the comingout process, and the complicated dynamics of family life. A family tragicomic, documents the authors discovery of her own and her fathers homosexuality. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of fun home. From left, michael cerveris, judy kuhn, sydney lucas and oscar williams in fun home, a musical portrait of a girl and her father at the circle in the square theater.
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