To put it in less crude terms, both books overflow with selfconscious references to classic literature both use the. The creators of sparknotes fun home themes from litcharts. A family tragicomic is a remarkable darkly funny illustrated memoir by alison bechdel that focuses on her family life and mostly about her complicated odd relationship with her father, bruce. Fun home study guide contains a biography of alison bechdel, literature essays. A family tragicomic houghton mifflin, 2006 im somewhat impressed that i somehow managed to read one of the new york times notable books of 2006 while its still 2006, and before they named it as a notable book. This great graphic novel, first published in 2006, has received many praises by critics and won some awards. In alison bechdels autobiographical graphic novel fun home. The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, dysfunctional family life, and the role of literature in. Crumb with a seriousness, emotional complexity and.
This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of fun home. The theme of death and the tragicomic in fun home from. Jun 08, 2006 it is also the familys residence and the fun home of the title. A family tragicomic is alison bechdels first graphic memoir. This book takes its place alongside the unnerving, memorable, darkly funny family memoirs of augusten burroughs and mary karr. The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, dysfunctional family life, and the role of literature in understanding oneself and ones family. The main characters of this sequential art, graphic novels story are. 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. Fun home refers both to the funeral parlor, where he put makeup on the corpses and arranged the flowers, and the familys meticulously restored gothic revival house, filled with gilt and lace, where he liked to imagine himself a 19thcentury aristocrat. Fun home must be the most ingeniously compact, hyperverbose example of autobiography to have been produced. 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. Bechdels graphic novel, focused on family relationships, sexual. Lisa kron and jeanine tesoris awardwinning 20 adaptation of alison bechdels alsoawardwinning 2006 graphic memoir fun home. Librarything is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers.
I have not heard or seen the musical and my knowledge of bechdel was limited to her creation of the bechdel test. Described by the times of london as a profound and important book fun home. The pattern of presenting a face to the world that is, in fact, masking a darker reality permeates bechdels memoir. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read fun home. Fun home was a searing memoir about discovering yourself, discovering the truth, and trying to reconcile grief. Meet alisons father, a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family s victorian house, a thirdgeneration funeral home director, a high school english teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with male students and a family babysitter. Fun home was first published in hardcover on june 8, 2006 by houghton mifflin. A family tragicomic, documents the authors discovery of her own and her fathers homosexuality. Several publications named fun home as one of the best books of 2006. My realization at nineteen that i was a lesbian came about in a manner consistent with my bookish upbringing. Themes familiar in the memoir genrethe authors intellectual and sexual. The importance of literature in fun home otherwomenswords. Analysis of alison bechdels fun home 50 words bartleby.
It is evident in the character of bruce bechdel, within whom the theme of artifice is closely linked with the theme of secret sexuality. The first edition of the novel was published in june 8th 2006, and was written by alison bechdel. Bechdel builds the narrative around the tragic event of her fathers death. The book touches upon many themes, including, but not limited to, the following. I wrote more about my experience with the book here. Fun home refers both to the funeral parlor, where he put makeup on the corpses and arranged the flowers, and the family s meticulously restored gothic revival house, filled with gilt and lace, where he liked to imagine himself a 19thcentury aristocrat. 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. A family tragicomic is a memoir about bechdels family that deals with, among other subjects, her sexual orientation as well as that of her father, a closeted funeral home director. 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.
My current comfortblanket of choice is alison bechdels tragicomic, fun home. A family tragicomic is a graphic memoir a work of nonfiction told in pictures by alison bechdel which recounts her coming out as a lesbian, her fathers repressed bisexuality, and the relationship between bechdel and her father. Jun 05, 2007 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. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. 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, 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. 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. Putting the fun back in funeral and spicing it with tenderness, grit and regret, alison bechdels memoir fun home. More life reflections from the bestselling author on themes of societal captivity and the catharsis of personal freedom.
Fun home, graphic novel, has watchung hills parents at odds. The role of gender and literature in alison bechdels fun home. 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. 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. Sep 16, 2016 described by the times of london as a profound and important book fun home. On a deeper level, it evokes the way that the memoir treats death as both tragically lifealternating and as comedic, in. Jun 08, 2006 alison bechdels comicform autobiography fun home. First, it captures the fact that the story of bruce in.
It is also embodied by the bechdel familys gothic revival mansion, which gives the. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 232 pages and is available in paperback format. A family tragicomic, playing through october 22 at the armory, benefitted from an extra helping of both. The story jumps back and forth in time with a main focus on bechdels relationship. I found this to be an interesting read with the perspective on a father as a tragichero. This breakout book by alison bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitchperfectly illustrated with bechdels sweetly gothic drawings. A family tragicomic illustrates the plight of a lesbian growing up in a household filled with secrets in every nook and cranny. Bechdel, who has been working as a cartoonist since the 1980s, took seven years to complete fun home. Four years ago, she writes, married to the father of my three children, i fell in love with a woman. The name of the book fun home is the nickname for the bechdels family business which happens to be a funeral home. She later reads a book focused on offering biographies of queer. The subtitle, a family tragicomic, reveals the tone of the story for the audience by insinuating. A family tragicomic by alison bechdel 9780618871711. A family tragicomic is an autobiographical graphic novel by american comic writer and artist alison bechdel.
A family tragicomic is a 2006 graphic memoir by the american cartoonist alison. A masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds, and their mysterious debts to each other. I will argue that bechdel illuminates that complexity in fun home by. Like bechdels comic strip, fun home explores themes of sexuality and family dysfunction in an effective pairing of memoir and graphic artistry. In this groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir, alison bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father. Aug 30, 2014 as a connoisseur of graphic novels i stumbled upon, fun home. A family tragicomic begins and ends with strong textual and visual images of her father. I was impressed by the intellect, humor, storytelling, and artwork of author alison bechdel. Bruce and helen had been living in europe, but the death of. Young alison bechdel lives in pennsylvania with helen, bruce, and her little brothers christian and john. Its publication in 2006 brought her wide literary renown. Alison bechdel wrote this book about her childhood, the relationship she had with her father and one of the many things they shared in common, their sexuality. The role of gender and literature in alison bechdels fun. To put it in less crude terms, both books overflow with selfconscious references to classic literature both use the odyssey in a major way.
The art has greater depth and sophistication that dykes. A family tragicomic is a graphic memoir that led alison bechdel to commercial and critical success. 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. A family tragicomic is a graphic novel memoir of the authors childhood, particularly focused on her relationship with her closeted gay father bruce. The title could possibly also take after the fact alisons father was a tyrant in the household and is simply a sarcastic title to show how it was the exact opposite from being fun. 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. She also shares her college years where she explores her sexual orientation, studies gender roles and other.
Distant and exacting, bruce bechdel was an english teacher. The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional. Fun home themes from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. There are three major reoccurring themes throughout the graphic memoir fun home by alison bechdel. The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, dysfunctional family.
Beneath his icy reserve and fussy perfectionism, he is a barely closeted homosexual and a suspected pedophile, an imposing but distant presence to his young daughter, who finds that their main bond is a shared literary sensibility. And yet, apart from assigned stints dusting caskets at the familyowned fun home. A family tragicomic ebook written by alison bechdel. The source material is as personal and intimate as it gets. Writing and illustrating fun home took seven years, in part because of bechdels laborious artistic process, which includes photographing herself in poses for each human figure. A family tragicomic grabs you from the first page and never lets go. The subtitle of fun home a family tragicomic captures a number of aspects of the book. Fun home summary from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. First published in 2006, this graphic novel has received highly positive acclaim from critics. 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. The book tells the story of alison bechdels childhood and youth in rural pennsylvania, united states. 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.
Jul 15, 2015 the book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, dysfunctional family life, and the role of literature in understanding oneself and ones family. The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender. The theme of death and the tragicomic in fun home from litcharts. A family tragicomic is a graphic novel memoir by american.
A family tragicomic, she uses literary allusions as a way to assist her in illustrating the strained relationship between herself and her father, as well as every other relationship in her life. Old father, old artificer page 1 from alison bechdels fun home. Its like reading someones diary, because essentially it is someones diary, but this has to be the most painstakingly artful diary ever created. First, it captures the fact that the story of bruce in the memoir is a tragedy told in the format of a graphic novel a comic. Incidents of her life were told in a unique manner. 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. The story jumps back and forth in time with a main focus on bechdels relationship with her father, his. As a child, bechdel always sensed something was off about her father. Bulging with literary allusions from proust to scott fitzgerald, fun home is a book that demands to be read again and again. It is also embodied by the bechdel family s gothic revival mansion, which gives the. It chronicles the authors childhood and youth in rural pennsylvania, united states, focusing on her complex relationship with her father. Moreover, the memoir discusses the death of alisons father, who is hit by a truck.
Like marjane satrapis persepolis, its a story exhilaratingly suited to graphic memoir form. The family home is a repository of literary, historical and aesthetic books. A family tragicomic is a graphic memoir by alison bechdel. In this first chapter, bechdel introduces her father and recollects her relationship with him in her childhood. As a connoisseur of graphic novels i stumbled upon, fun home. It has won several award and was nominated for 2007 eisner awards. It doesnt flow completely continuously like a story but told in organized fragments as she controls what. A family tragicomic is a graphic novel memoir by american cartoonist alison bechdel. Bruce and helen had been living in europe, but the.
Sep 29, 2017 lisa kron and jeanine tesoris awardwinning 20 adaptation of alison bechdels alsoawardwinning 2006 graphic memoir fun home. Mar 18, 2014 in alison bechdels autobiographical graphic novel fun home. A family tragicomic is an exciting autobiography with comics that bring her story to life. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. First, it captures the fact that the story of bruce in the memoir is a. Bechdels rich language and precise images combine to create a lush piece of work a memoir where concision and detail are melded for maximum, obsessive density. A family tragicomic put me in the same irritated and impatient mood experienced when reading toni morrisons the song of solomon in high school.
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