Dec 01, 2006 alison bechdel is the author of the bestselling memoir fun home. A family tragicomic grabs you from the first page and never lets go. Her graphic memoir fun home was rated one of the best books of 2006 dykes to watch out for. Fun home details, in labryinthine fashion, bechdels childhood with a closeted homosexual father, her discovery of her own homosexuality, and the apparent suicide of her father at the age of 44. Fun home is a contemporary classic in the genre of graphic fiction. 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. This adaptation of alison bechdels graphic novel is a beautifully performed mix of memoryplay and.
Fun home van alison bechdel begon als graphic novel, en werd toen een musical in new york. Its like reading someones diary, because essentially it is someones diary, but this has to. A family tragicomic, an awesome graphic novel by american cartoonist alison bechdel. Fun home project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks read. Originally best known for the longrunning comic strip dykes to watch out for, in 2006 she became a bestselling and critically acclaimed author. A family tragicomic is a graphic memoir that led alison bechdel to commercial and critical success. Alison bechdel is the author of the bestselling memoir fun home. Fun home ebook by alison bechdel 9780547347004 rakuten kobo. Originally best known for the longrunning comic strip dykes to watch out for, in 2006 she became a bestselling and critically acclaimed author with her graphic memoir fun home. Bechdels childhood, her fathers death and their shared. I will argue that bechdels creation of her father as her doppelganger throughout her childhood, and eventually her foil as she comes to terms with her sexuality, serves to illustrate the ways in which attempts to maintain a veneer of heterosexuality due to pressures from. Fun home creator alison bechdel on turning a tragic.
A family tragicomic has quickly joined the ranks of celebrated literary graphic novels. Sep 25, 2014 bechdels father was a frustrated artist, who poured his obsessive creativity into the restoration of fun home, the family nickname for the funeral home he ran, which bechdel used for the title of her first book. The main characters of this sequential art, graphic novels story are. Het familiedrama fun home stort een karrenvracht aan emoties en melodieen. This breakout book by alison bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitchperfectly illustrated with bechdels sweetly gothic drawings. Fun home creator alison bechdel on turning a tragic childhood. Set in part at a familyrun funeral home, the book explores alisons complicated. Sep 07, 2017 bechdel s graphic memoir, fun home,was a bestseller. Its like reading someones diary, because essentially it is someones diary, but this has to be the most painstakingly artful diary ever created. The role of gender and literature in alison bechdels fun. It was not until college that alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay.
The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, dysfunctional. 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 addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, dysfunctional family. After putting the longrunning dykes to watch out for on hiatus, bechdel released the graphic memoir fun home, later adapted into a tony awardwinning musical in 2015. This breakout book by alison bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitchperfectly illustrated with bechdel s sweetly gothic drawings. A family tragicomic, which was named a best book of the year by time, entertainment weekly, the new york times, people among others. 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.
Alison bechdels career as a cartoonist started with her comic strip, dykes to watch out for, which ran from 1983 to 2008. A family tragicomic by alison bechdel librarything. Fun home is the biography, memoir and history book which tells the story of a woman who grew up in difficult circumstances. The character of alison bechdel in fun home from litcharts. Sep 16, 2016 described by the times of london as a profound and important book fun home. Helen was an expert mother and an understanding woman but not warm or friendly. Though he pursued relationships with men, he never came out. Alison bechdel responded to the cutting of government funding to a south carolina college that assigned her graphic memoir, fun home, calling the move sad and absurd. 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. Fun home delivers the tragedy in bechdel s 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. It chronicles the authors childhood and youth in rural pennsylvania, united states, focusing on her complex relationship with her father. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 232 pages and is available in paperback format. L ast summer, alison bechdel returned to the small pennsylvania town where she grew up population.
A family tragicomic ebook written by alison bechdel. Tekst lisa kron, muziek jeanine tesori, regie en vertaling koen van dijk, choreografie. Fun home is an entertaining and poignant autobiography of bechdels childhood. The story concerns bechdels discovery of her own sexuality, her relationship with her gay father, and her attempts to unlock the mysteries surrounding his life. Her contribution also includes the bechdel test, which measures gender bias in film. A family tragicomic is an engrossing memoir that does the graphic novel format proud. The theatrical adaptation premiered offbroadway as a musical at the public theater in 20 and moved to broadway in 2015. A family tragicomic was a smash in the comics world as well as in the establishment literary world. Jun 08, 2006 bechdels memoir offers a graphic narrative of uncommon richness, depth, literary resonance and psychological complexity. The author and protagonist of fun home, alison traces her life from childhood into early adulthood, centering her reflections on the circumstances surrounding her father bruce s death as well as the progression of her understanding of her own lesbian sexuality and inclination toward masculinity. Fun home by alison bechdel pdf download ebookscart. Musical fun home laat een diepe indruk achter het parool. 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. She has written one of the bestknown lgbt comic strips, dykes to watch out for, for over 25 years.
Below are alison bechdels favorite books, available to purchase as a set or. Aug 17, 2017 her portrait of her mother is understanding but also unsparing. Yet while bechdel has no way of directly knowing all the details of her fathers sexuality and perhaps because ofthat, she is an avid observer and collector of evidence both as a child and as an adult artist, and one of fun home s distinctive features is her reproduction of. A family tragicomic is an autobiographical graphic novel by american comic writer and artist alison bechdel. Jun 22, 2006 a cult favorite in the comics world, alison bechdel has chronicled the lives of fictionalized characters in her dykes to watch out for comic strip since 1993. Alison bechdel has been a careful archivist of her own life and kept a journal since she was ten. A masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds, and their mysterious debts to each other. Like marjane satrapis persepolis, its a story exhilaratingly suited to graphic memoir form. From the bestselling author of fun home, time magazines no. One of the longestrunning queer comic strips, dykes to watch out for is over 20 years old, has. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one. Bechdels memoir offers a graphic narrative of uncommon richness, depth, literary resonance and psychological complexity.
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. One of the most eagerly anticipated graphic memoirs of recent years, fun home is a darkly funny family tale, pitchperfectly illustrated with alison bechdel s sweetly gothic drawings. The fun home quotes below are all either spoken by alison bechdel or refer to alison bechdel. Her family owns a funeral home in a small town so her father works as an english teacher, her mother an actress.
Alison bechdel has 48 books on goodreads with 334367 ratings. A family tragicomic and the comic strip dykes to watch out for. An unusual memoir done in the form of a graphic novel by a cult favorite comic artist offers a darkly funny family portrait that details her relationship with her father, a historic preservation expert dedicated to restoring the familys victorian home, funeral home director, highschool english teacher, and closeted homosexual. Fun home by alison bechdel penguin books australia. A cult favorite in the comics world, alison bechdel has chronicled the lives of fictionalized characters in her dykes to watch out for comic strip since 1993. Alison bechdel is a cartoonist whose 2006 memoir fun home. 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. Fun home is the history, memoir and biography book which shares the story of a woman who grew up in difficult circumstances. Alison bechdel born september 10, 1960 is an american cartoonist.
The first edition of the novel was published in june 8th 2006, and was written by alison bechdel. One of the most eagerly anticipated graphic memoirs of recent years, fun home is a darkly funny family tale, pitchperfectly illustrated with alison bechdels sweetly gothic drawings. In this groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir, alison bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father. 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. Distant and exacting, bruce bechdel was an english teacher and director of the town funeral. Alison bechdel books list of books by author alison bechdel. For twentyfive years, she wrote and drew the comic strip dykes to watch out for, a visual chronicle of modern life queer and otherwise. Bechdels graphic memoir, fun home,was a bestseller.
Fun home is an entertaining and poignant autobiography of bechdel s childhood. A graduate of oberlin college 1981, bechdel began her career in new york city, working office jobs while publishing singlepanel cartoons in feminist publications. Fun home, naar het gelijknamige boek van alison bechdel, is deze zomer slechts twee weken te zien in ita. Called one of the preeminent oeuvres of the comics genre, period by ms, dykes is syndicated in fifty alternative newspapers and is collected into a book with a quarter million copies in print. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. This graphic novel memoir is a perfect format for her story, with words and line drawings perfectly showing her complicated relationship with her father, who almost always. A family tragicomic is a 2006 graphic memoir by the american cartoonist alison bechdel, author of the comic strip dykes to watch out for. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read fun home. Alison bechdels fun home was a pop culture and literary phenomenon. Het gaat over het niet uiten van gevoelens en daardoor klem komen.
Fun home alison bechdel, author, alison bechdel, illustrator. Particularly revealing is a snapshot of a certain letter from father to daughter, because his indecipherable handwriting means all the reader has is. 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. Discover the bestselling graphic memoir behind the 2019 olivier award nominated musical.
Throughout the graphic memoir, alison is open and up front about her desires to dress and act. It has won several award and was nominated for 2007 eisner awards. Putting the fun back in funeral and spicing it with tenderness, grit and regret, alison bechdels memoir fun home. The role of gender and literature in alison bechdels fun home. The book follows alison from her early childhood and through to the beginning of. Fun home, subtitled a family tragicomic, is a 2006 graphic memoir by the american writer alison bechdel, author of the comic strip dykes to watch out for. The strip is syndicated in fifty alternative newspapers, translated into multiple. But that list of plot details doesnt get to the core of this story. Pdf epub download written by alison bechdel, title. Described by the times of london as a profound and important book fun home.
For twentyfive years, she wrote and drew the comic strip dykes to watch out for, a visual chronicle of modern life queer and otherwise considered one of the. Placing alison bechdels fun home alongside other graphic narratives, most notably art spiegelmans maus 1993 and marjane satrapis persepo lis 2003, that explore inter generational trauma and the role of the child as witness, seems both obvious and potentially inappropriate, even presump. Mar 03, 2017 alison bechdels career as a cartoonist started with her comic strip, dykes to watch out for, which ran from 1983 to 2008. 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. Alison bechdel reflects on the impact of learning that her father was a closeted gay man having affairs with teen boys while discovering her own sexuality as a lesbian woman. Are you my mother a comic drama by alison bechdel pdf. Her graphic memoir fun home was rated one of the best books of 2006. It is the first broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist. 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. In 2006, bechdel wrote fun home, a graphic novel memoir about. 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. Bechdels father was a frustrated artist, who poured his obsessive creativity into the restoration of fun home, the family nickname for the funeral home he ran, which bechdel used for the title of her first book. A graduate of oberlin college 1981, bechdel began her career in new york city, working office jobs while.