Alison Bechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic was named one of Time magazine's 10 best books of the year in 2006. Prior to the publication of her graphic novel-cum-memoir, Bechdel was best known for her comic strip, "Dykes to Watch Out For," which was syndicated in a number of alternative publications throughout the country. In Fun Home, Bechdel persists in exploring some of the themes she first examined in her strips, particularly gender and sexual orientation, as well as the trials and tribulations of a smart and witty young woman in America. However, Bechdel's memoir is an even more personal and poignant account--both of growing up gay and simply growing up. Bechdel's book, alongside David Foster Wallace's essays and short stories, asks us to look at the future of contemporary American literature. Will the "great American novel" be something other than a traditional novel? Have we moved past the genre of the novel onto more hybrid literary forms, such as the graphic memoir of Spiegelman and Bechdel?
In my opinion, authors who choose to write their memoirs as graphic novels are granted the unique ability to present only the information that they so desire. There is no need for long introductory chapters in which every minute detail of background information is precisely documented for the reader-- the author can simply choose a key moment and present it as it actually happened. This is seen throughout "Fun Home." Bechdel recreates the same scene various times, instilling a new fact or point of view on each different occasion.
ReplyDeleteGraphic novels also allow the author to relate the scene to the reader using both visuals and words. This was especially striking during Bechdel's presentation of her father fixing the family house. She called it his "passion" and stated that she meant it in every sense of the word. However, I did not understand exactly what she meant until I saw the image-- her father carrying a support beam the way Jesus is always depicted carrying a cross.
Katherine Burton
I have never been big into comic books. Being a girl, I grew up playing with Barbies and reading The Babysitter Club. Even as a 22 year old college student, I would have to say I never got into reading the graphic novels that have turned into Hollywood movie sensations such as, 300 and Watchmen, although I have loved the movies! However, after reading the stories Maus and Fun Home, I have a new found respect for this art and realize all comics do not deal with superheroes and tights.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to note the differences that exist between these two forms of writing though, of which there are many. With the traditional novel we, the reader, create the world the author is talking about in our minds. We are free to picture the old man with a tan, wrinkled face and soft eyes in whichever way our mind creates. We are able to see the hills in the background and determine how tall or short they may be. The words of the author are but a guide to how the picture unravels in our head; the author assists us but does not show us pictures of what he or she means, like in a graphic novel. Although a comic is not as detailed as the Mona Lisa, we are still directed to see what the author sees. For instance, in Maus, we see the concentration camps the way Spiegelman depicted them through his drawings, not from our imagination. For me, this is the biggest differences between a traditional novel and a graphic novel—the fact that we have pictures walking us through the story rather than our pure imagination.
Another big difference is the amount of words. Traditional novels have so many more words than graphic novels. Due to the pictures and the boxes that hold the pictures, there is a lot less space to actually write compared to a traditional novel, where row after row of words is all you see. Also, most of the time, graphic novels are conversations, like when Spiegelman’s dad is telling his story. Even though it goes back in time, it starts with a conversation and then conversations happen in the past also. With a traditional novel we have more “fillers” in between conversations that describe what is going on in the person’s mind, the scenery, etc. Everything has to be described because we are not seeing it in a picture; in a graphic novel we are.
Graphic novels, in my opinion, are also much easier and faster to read than traditional novels. It is almost like reading a picture book. We move from one box to the other and keep doing this over and over again and before we know it, we are 100 pages into the graphic novel and it’s felt like only a few minutes have gone by.
Everything is different about reading a graphic novel than a traditional novel. Your mind needs to switch completely from reading 250 pages of pure text, to reading small bits, mostly conversations, intermixed with pictures. It is definitely a different style of writing and reading that takes some adjustment at first, but can prove to be just as powerful and inspiring as a traditional novel.
Going off of Katherine’s point, I think one huge distinction between the writing of a graphic novel and a novel is that the writer has the ability to present only the information they wish to present. Thus reading a graphic novel must be similarly adjusted. Each and every detail, visual or words, has some importance to the reading of a graphic novel. Where writers of a novel may insert detail simply as filler or extraneous information, each detail in a graphic novel is there for a reason. Even a seemingly pointless mark on a page or the different styles of shading or framing could place emphasis on a certain aspect of the graphic novel. Although graphic novels are sometimes limited in the amount of words they contain, the writers are able to portray concepts through their visual representation that would otherwise be impossible. As Kayleigh pointed out, the words of a graphic novel simply guide the reader in forming a picture of what the author is describing.
ReplyDeleteThe reader also has more freedom to interpret the actions and words of characters within a graphic novel. In a novel, the writer tends to tell the reader how a character reacted or what the character is thinking. In contrast, the reader of a graphic novel must pull his or her own meaning out of the writer’s depiction of a scene or a character’s response to a situation.
Tom Baudendistel
In general, reading a graphic novel differs from reading standard novel, in the most basic sense, by using images to convey meaning along with words rather than just using text. This helps to make a graphic novel read at a quicker pace but with the same if not more detailed content. I think I like graphic novels almost as much if not more than plain old novels because graphic novels give the reader access to more visual imagery and this is helpful for people who operate more visually than in a text based manor. I like how authors of graphic novels use the “gutter” to transition between scenes because it helps to connect the dots between the text and the images.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading a graphic novel, I didn’t believe that I would really enjoy doing so because I thought that graphic novels lacked the detail that can be obtained by reading a regular novel. However, after reading MAUS and starting Fun Home I feel like the imagery gives a level of detail that is absent from regular novels and allows the reader more freedom to make assumptions about the information presented. Graphic novels also tend to move more smoothly than a novel which makes reading them much easier. Overall, I’m very excited to read the rest of Fun Home and have definitely taken a liking to graphic novels as a whole. I don't think we will be moving from the genre of regular novels but will rather incorporate graphic novels as a seperate genre.
A graphic novel and a written novel differ in a few different aspects. The most obvious difference is the visual component the graphic novel provides. This allows for the reader to process the writer’s ideas in a different way and in my opinion a simpler way. Reading a graphic novel eliminates a lot of confusion with it’s readers because the language is often simple and long descriptions or big words when describing something can leave some readers in the dust. The graphic novel allows us to be told a story in the way we observe and see things every day… with our eyes. This medium also allows the author to literally paint a picture and include a lot of details that would often not be mentioned in a written novel. With this in mind, I guess it could also be said that a graphic novel limits the imagination of reader because everything is visual and not much is left up to the reader. Instead, everything is put in front of their face.
ReplyDelete-Zachary
From Danielle McDonald:
ReplyDeleteReading a graphic novel is an entirely different experience than reading a traditional novel. The traditional novel drives the imagination by producing written images which the reader must interpret for themselves. Each character in a traditional novel looks different to every reader, but in a graphic novel the characters are presented to us in a visual format. Likewise, the emotions of the characters are portrayed. There is an interesting frame in Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic where the author and her brother are grinning after the death of their father. After encountering images of the family funeral home and the bodies of the deceased, the reader lays their eyes on the two characters smiling in a way which seems completely out of place. The smiles are drawn in a particularly eerie and unnerving fashion which would be hard for the reader to visualize were Fun Home not a graphic novel.
The frames in the graphic novel also drive the story. Many things need not be written in a graphic novel because they are represented pictorially. Setting, props and characters emotions are easily conveyed through pictures. An interesting question to ask is whether emotions are conveyed more meaningfully through the graphic novel or the traditional novel. I think it can be said that that traditional lingers on emotions longer. When an emotion is represented by words the author has the ability to draw out that emotion but in a graphic novel, because there are fewer words, the reader reads through the text more quickly and spends less time looking at the pictures of the emotions than they would reading the description of an emotion. At the same time, being able to see a character’s emotions makes the graphic novel a poignant art form in itself because it gives a face and an expression to every character.
From Stephen Tabler:
ReplyDeleteI feel like reading a graphic novel compared to a normal novel is pretty different. When I’m reading a novel I can either get into it, or I don’t at all. The language used has to be able to attract me and want me to go further with the experience. If I become bored I completely remove myself from the situation and I’m just reading a novel. When I read a graphic novel I find it hard to not get into it. I become more involved in the novel and lose track of time. I also feel that when a graphic novel is written, the author really becomes a part of the novel. It lets the author become another part of the story and really express him or herself. I also feel that reading a graphic novel brings us back to being children, we aren’t just reading for school, we read for fun.
There is a world of difference between reading a graphic novel and the traditional novel. The first aspect that comes to mind is simply the time it takes to read through each; a graphic novel can be read much faster than the traditional novel. I don't believe that this takes away from the story though; while reading Alison Bechdel I was able to learn so much about what she wanted to communicate with the audience, in only a few short frames! In a traditional novel it might have taken entire chapters for the author to communicate the same emotions that a single illustration can. Also, the graphic novels that we've read so far have dealt with very serious issues, such as the Holocaust and suicide, so perhaps graphic novels allow readers to connect with these issues in a much more milder tone, than say a novel might. I also really like the little sidenotes and commentary that Bechdel adds to her frames; this commentary, which was apart from the narrative running along the tops of the frame, gives great insight into her feelings and what she wants the reader to understand about the illustrations.
ReplyDeleteI have long been a fan of graphic novels, and yet I have never really though about why I like them or why they are different from other forms. When I read graphic novels I feel that in a way I absorb the story in a much different way than in a novel. I read it much quicker and if I need to remind myself of what happened in the story, the visual cue helps me to remember what it going on. When I think of the story I also think of the picture. You linger on a page, and as we talked about before in class, we sort of fill in the gaps that are missing in the story. It is like a puzzle that we mentally put together using both the dialogue and the visual. While novelists rely on the impact of words to create a visual image, the words work alongside the visual.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I have to say I haven’t read a graphic novel like Bechdel’s. The deepness of content and the deep personal reflection on her life is not something that I’ve seen in graphic novel format. Nor have I seen such articulate wording in a graphic novel either. Her novel proves that a graphic novel can be a marriage between beautiful and meaningful words and have an impactful visual story. What does the graphic form add to Bechdel’s story that a graphic novel may not? Well, for one, it seems that sometimes simple words convey a humor that would not have been as funny had it been in prose form. If you take some words that her father says and the expressions he makes, the words seem much more powerful with a visual. The description of the details that her father working on the house seemed much more powerful seeing him animated in each frame. It would also seem that since Bechdel’s character is a reflection of herself, it might be easier to be truthful to the reader. To create an image of yourself is mirror of how you view yourself.
-Sarah F.
From Annie Straub:
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I have noticed most in reading this graphic novel is that you get to learn things about the characters visually. Although many of the things you are seeing while reading the novel could be written out rather than drawn out, it has a different feel. Rather than being told how the character is standing or what they are reading, the reader makes these connections themselves. It sort of feels like piecing together a puzzle. In this story, a lot of the father's character is discovered visually, and very little of it is given to you in words. I think this is an interesting way to tell a story. The reader is deciding for themselves what these characters are really all about.
The visuals also can be really shocking. The images of the dead guy in the funeral home freaked me out a little bit. I also really liked how she kept repeating the image of her father crossing the street with the weeds on his shoulder. I feel like this visual repitition does something that a written novel can't do.
I think that the "American Novel" can not be defined anymore. Alison Bechdel completely furthers this thesis because she tells HER story in a graphic novel (comic) form and it is still considered a memoir because it does just what a memoir should do: tell the tale of a person. I absolutely loved this book not only because I could relate, but also because the way she choose to write it makes it more prominent and the visuals help the reader sympathize with Alison. I also like that she does not stray from details in the pictures and spoken word. To go into depth about her sex life and her OCD. Besides MOUS, this was my favorite book we have read, not because they are comics, but because both have substance that relate to me and my life.
ReplyDelete-Megan Fingerman
Sorry for the delay. I also think that the American Novel can no longer be defined as a certain type or way of written work. This graphic novel is one that is seperate from anything I have ever read before . I think the way she depicts her fathers' secret life from how distant he is with his family is remarkable. In the beginning it starts as a memior to her father, one she disagreed with and didn't quite understand and as we move forward to the end she seems to have a some form of respect for her father and is remorseful. I like this novel the best out of all that we have read..
ReplyDeleteTracy Nixon
Sorry too! There are some pretty obvious differences in the graphic novel and the traditional novel. Like some have mentioned above one of the main ones is that a traditional novel has just the words while a graphic one has pictures, words and sometimes other genres in its pages. I think when an author writes a graphic novel they have more ways to tell their story to the readers. For example the pictures in Fun Home I think really enhance what Alison writes but they also can tell their own story if you took the words out which I think is pretty awesome. I thought her pictures were detailed and they often made subtle hints to things she was talking about in her story. For example the picture we talked about in class when her dad is caring the wood beam he looks like Jesus when he was carrying the cross. Alison says on that page "It was his passion. And I mean his passion in every sense of the word. Libidinal. Manic. Martyred." This example is just one of others where she uses her pictures to help explain what she is saying and I really like that about this work and Maus.
ReplyDeleteBechdel's graphic novel is unlike any other book I have ever read. She basically puts her entire emotionally disturbed history out there for the world to see. I find it very hard to find any happiness in this book and I don't seem to mind that much. The way that Bechdel starts the novel with her and her father playing airplane almost gives the reader a false hope of the book being joyful. However, this is why Bechdel's novel is so interesting. She is able to keep you interested throughout the novel with different details all the way to the end.
ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting how Bechdel incorporated the sexual aspect of her own life into the book. Obviously with her being gay and her fathers secret, it was very crucial for her to talk about it to a certain extent. However, I did feel like sometimes she included it unnecessarily, part of this could just be the constant use of sexual images pertaining to lesbianism. I don't disagree with this at all and I am completely comfortable with these images, but while reading the novel I sometimes felt like it would stray away from the real point of the story.
At the end of the day Bechdel does a very good job of using the graphic novel to her advantage and she really draws the reader in from start to finish.
I think that the graphic novel differs from reading traditional novel in that it can project images, dialogue, emotions and intentions that go along with the written content with a single image. It is like watching a movie with the sound off and the captioning on. You have two stimulus, the visual and the written. Each adds to the story, characters and plot and supports the other while furthering you along a projected path. Take away one of the formats, visual or written, and you are left with a incomplete story and fragmented narratives. Taken together they complement the authors intent and provide the reader a greater "reading" experience.
ReplyDeleteMichael Phillips
I think reading a graphic novel is a nice break from reading a traditional novel. However, I have only read graphic novels for various classes and have never had the desire to buy and read one for my own leisure. The traditional novel uses words that lead the reader to picture in their imagination what the characters looks like, what the setting is, and to picture situations. In a graphic novel, the reader is given pictures and drawings of different people, places and tihngs and does not allow the reader to imagine as much as a traditional novel, which I think can take some fun out of reading. I also think that being able to read the words as well as see the pictures allow the reader to understand exactly what the message is because there is not much room for imagination. However, for the sake of a class, I really enjoy reading a graphic novel because it does not happen often and it is like a breath of fresh air.
ReplyDelete-Stephanie
From Jaramy Carmody:
ReplyDeleteI remember the first time I found my older brother's comic collection. It wasn't a secret stash or anything, but to me it felt like a hidden world that only I knew about. Most of it was from his generation of the 1970s. He had all assortments of super heroes like Spiderman, Captain America, and Ironman. He had mostly the lone super hero types (as opposed to groups like the X-Men) that looked and felt very alone perched up in some dark crevice on the top of a building somewhere high above the people of the city. That probably said something about my brother identifying with such outsiders. I could say that about me as well. I certainly got sucked in. There was something about the artwork of that time that was very dark and seductive.
Underneath that stack, and sitting on top of the thick shag green carpet was something else that looked deceptively like another comic book. It was a copy of a "comic book version" of the movie Star Wars. It was my first experience with a graphic novel. I had seen the movie. This was an adaptation of it. There was the whole movie more or less inside this thick book. I remember thinking that they could not have possibly condensed every moment into even a large comic form. Upon closer inspection, it was true, they had not.
You would have one scene like the diner with all the alien pirates and pilots, that had probably lasted 5 minutes in the movie, condensed into 1 single panel. In the next panel, they were blasting off in the Millenium Falcon. It moved pretty quickly if you think about it, though the speed at which I could read it as a young lad was about as fast as watching the movie. Somehow it had the ability to communicate as much and sometimes more in the space of just a few frames. I think also because it is artwork, we have the ability to combine separate images we see, such as the top of someone's head in the bottom half of the frame, while the character imagines a flashback scene in the top half. The artwork and design of a graphic novel give us the ability to suspend belief.
You could argue that a regular novel with no pictures and just words has that ability too. It has it's own merits as well as some of the other bloggers mentioned. You can certainly be the one in control of the entire world of the imagination. And perhaps in some way the thicker, more dense, more descriptive words can provide a richer experience in some ways. But there is something to be said about the power of a medium that can communicate quite a bit in one panel or one page of a graphic novel or comic. You can compare it to films or even artwork itself doing something similar. With films or artwork, the creator has even more power to direct the viewer's attention right to what they want you to see, while still leaving the interpretation up to you.
And there is something to be said about the differences with the forms when it comes to the novel being more linear most of the time, where as the other forms have more of a chance to be non-linear. But I will leave that exploration to another blogger who may want to take that ball and run with it. . .
I believe that the great American novel is whatever is most pertinent to the American society at the time, and that the concept of "traditional" novel is a joke. A novel is mainly used to convey an idea, sometimes with pictures, sometimes without. However, though the original idea might be the same, the portrayal of that idea is always different, which means that no two novels are truely alike. (Think Dracula vs. Twilight)
ReplyDeleteJust because someone decided to portray their novel in a graphic form does not make it any more valid or less valid than any other novel. Nor does it mean that one day graphic novels will take over the literary world.
-NR
Hey guys- don't know if you're still checking this or not, but I was flipping through Entertainment Weekly yesterday and "Fun Home" was in the top 100 things of this past decade. It was in the 70's or 80's, but I was surprised to see it!
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