A Portrait of the Artist as a Young (Wo)Man

There is no escaping literature in Fun Home. Alison and her father are constantly seen book in hand, title visible. Chapter titles cleverly allude to some of the most celebrated works in the canon. Most of these references are explained within each respective chapter, but I found it curious that in Chapter 1, "Old Father, Old Artificer," Bechdel, allows the reader to believe that this is simply an invocation of the Daedalus/Icarus myth, whereas anyone who has read Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man will recognize this as the begining of that novel's very last line. Of course Joyce takes on greater importance in the the graphic novel's final chapter, "The Antihero's Journey" (which follow's Joseph Campbell's model for the journey of the hero quiye nicely), mostly in relation to Ulysses which Allison "studies" in college. A Portrait of the Artist. . . is brought up fleetingly as a text that she should read prior to Ulysses; and when Allison mentions this to her father he remarks "You damn well better identify with every page."

I bring this up because for all the heavy handed connections Bechdel between between her family history and the works of Proust, Fitzgerald, James, etc, it seems as if Fun Home taken as a whole is a far more subtle and compelling retelling of A Portrait of the Artist . . . and I appreciate that she doesn't have to spell that out for me.

Truthfully . . .

"The center of the book shifts, is everywhere and no circumference can be drawn until the end" (7.2-5).

Admittedly I recycled this City of Glass quotation from my last blog post but in formulating an argument for our impending paper, I'd like to see how it might apply to a reading of Safe Area Gorazde, specifically in relation to questions of truth and narration.

Like City of Glass, Safe Area Gorazde's prologue takes a number of cues from the hard boiled tradition: The smokey and shadowy bar, trenchcoat/fedora clad stranger, and suggestions of a "Real Truth" to be had. I'll stop the comparison there, because unlike Quinn, Sacco seems to know that Real Truth is a counterfeit form of real truth, thus his intent to avoid the stranger who offers him his own version of it (ii.7).

Instead Sacco gleans his truths from a number of different (sometimes competing, often complementary) sources. Much of the truths he focuses on in the early segments of the novel deal with the day to day of Gorazde's citizens putting the pieces of their lives back together as the author pieces together the story he is trying to write(16.1). Early in his relationship with Riki, Sacco presses him for some war stories, but only gets "I have seen many horrible things . . . I saw many people killed. Parts of people. Horrible things" (26.1) and as he reveals in that panels narration, that's as much as he'd ever get from Riki.

Sacco is however successful in getting some pretty horrific stories from other citizens (mostly told in the black guttered flashback sections that come to dominate the second half of the book). At points he seems unsatiable, interrupting a perfectly pleasant social gathering to interrogate Sabina about her "worst moment." "The Real Truth," Sacco narrates "was I hadn't come to record the antics of some silly girls" (151). Maybe he hadn't, but these ostensibly banal interactions constiute the heart of the story Sacco is telling. Afterall, he's not telling the stories that make up the wartime sections of the book. These horrific tales come from the people he has interviewed and every now and then Sacco even comes to question their truthfulnes. Take Dr. Begovic's "far fetched or maybe not" story about a man forced to eat his grandson's liver (125.3-4) or Nermin and Haso's claims of Serbian use of combat gas* (200. 2). Ultimately, as Sacco narrates since Gorazde was cut off from camera's "It's suffering was the sole property of those who experienced it" (126.3). Best to let them tell their truths and let the reader sort through them to create a complete picture.

Real Truth is dangerous. Politicos and claimsmakers twisted the Real Truths of history to justify, rationalize, and even incite the atrocities that we have just read about. The Real Truth of Gorazde as a "safe area" is actually the "meaninglessness of the safe area concept" (184). Even once "peace" most Gorazdians are skeptical of the truthfulness in the concept of "real peace" (214.1-4).

Can we draw a circumference by the novel's conclusion? Sacco returns to Gorazde feeling alienated as all his friends have left but finds Edin there who is concerned with"getting on with things" (227.4), looking ahead instead of walking in circles.

*Recent evidence supporting truthfulness of these claims

Sacco In Iraq

Here's a link where you can view Sacco's Guardian coverage in Iraq. Look closely and see if you can find my friend John Kuniholm. These were published a few months after John arrived home in North Carolina, minus his right arm.

http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/joe_sacco_in_ir.html

What's up crossover

http://abc.go.com/primetime/pushingdaisies/index?pn=comic

Interesting potential for bringing new recruits to the world of comics, or marketing gimmick that cheapens the form?

"Manga Diplomacy"

Friday's topic on NPR's On the Media was titled "Manga Diplomacy." It's a 7 1/2 minute interview with Roland Kelts (Japanamerica) that addresses the way Japan is acknowledging the potential and power of comics even in the political sphere. Beyond that, the brief segment hits on a few issues that have come up in our class discussions: demand for a "nitty gritty" definition of manga, difference of what is on the page versus what the reader projects onto characters, and brief explanation as to why cell phones are becoming a vehicle for comics.

You can access the link here:

http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2007/09/28/06

An Interesting Article

“The word comics is laden with so many negative connotations, while the words ‘graphic novel’ give it a certain cachet,” Paul Gravett.


After our discussion in class today I was interested in seeing if I could find a few example of Chris Ware's "Building Stories." While performing my search, I ran across this article in the New York Times, entitled "Britain Embraces the Graphic Novel." It has a great deal of interesting insights into the popularity of the graphic novel in Britain and else where.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/books/05comi.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Quote taken from the above article:
"Britain Embraces the Graphic Novel" By Tara Mulholland
Published: September 5, 2007 New York Times