After thorough review of Bechdel’s, Fun Home, through readings, class discussions and analytical essays, I have come to the conclusion that the purpose of the “tragicomic”/ autobiography is to prove that the barriers of literary work are maliable and is a recently growing idea of interest.
Bechdel’s story included much meaning and allowed its audience to question certain content, for example her father’s suicide versus death, but her ways of presenting the story was highly contemporary/ modern to be specified by a single genre of text. Bechdel’s novel included a wide range of presentation methods ranging from a comic layout, while speaking in the present or the extradiegetic tense, as well as the intradiegetic tense throughout the time period of the book. This concept was introduced to me when reading Warhol’s analytical article entitled, The Space Between: A Narrative Approach to Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home.
Bechdel used these contemporary styles of writing to polish her creation that formed a new, or rather clustered, genre of literature. Upon reviewing Warhol’s article I was persuaded into believing that Bechdel’s intent of Fun Home was not to inform the world of her life growing up, but rather the thought process and literary breakthrough of mashing up and fusing genres in order to create a virtually new form of storytelling. If you take the time to think about Bechdel’s modernist writing process you would realize that any story could substitute hers, but still being far more interactive with the readers than if it was left alone, due to her presentation style.
For those that argue my conclusions and assume that the purpose of the “tragicomic” was to explore the author’s life growing up, or coming of age, you must keep in mind that these themes would not have been presented nearly as clear if they had been written in a normal textual matter. If this work had not included comic frames, or the diegetic characteristic tenses, there is no way these themes would have properly been explored in the text. An alternate way to think about this, is if Bechdel attempted to include the extra/ intradiegetic tenses in normal writing format, which would have resulted in utter confusion of the reader.
In closing, Bechdel’s coming of age story, or whichever title you prefer, would not have been made possible without her contemporary/ modernist process of writing into her final clustered genre identity
She did add a lot of genre into this graphic novel, which I love because I think that it gives the reader more than one point of view.
ReplyDeletePerspective is what I love reading, like Persepolis too. On how the writer thinks.
I'm not sure that I agree with you that Fun Home's purpose was to mash-up genres rather than tell the story.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the novel would have had less meaning had it not been presented as it was, but I think that only shows that the mash-up of genres is a complement to her story.
(I apologize if I misunderstood your intent.)
Initially I thought Bechdel's purpose was to mash stuff together instead of telling the actual story. But looking into it further in class, it seems she had a point in including all of the things that she did.
ReplyDeleteI both agree and disagree with your statements. Meaning, I agree that one of Bechdel's intentions was to mix genres together and create a contemporary graphic novel. However I do not think we should limit our analysis of her novel to just this because I think the actual content of the story is equally as important.
ReplyDeleteTATY SAYS: I agree with you that without the graphic novel style the readers would not have related as well with the story. Yet I think that her story was important to tell and shows experiences that others may not have heard of without her telling hers.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that the purpose of Fun Home was solely to manifest the malleability of the barriers of literature. In the book there are a large amount of themes presented, proven by observation of the blackboard in class on Friday. The book contains sentiments of sexuality, identity, family, literature, philosophy, etc. Why would an author write with such honesty about her life and controversial ideas for the exclusive purpose of creating a new form of storytelling? Mere entertainment? The book also referneces James Joyce's Ulysses, which is arguably the hardest text to read and comprehend of the twentieth century. Why would an author choose such an arduous text for the purpose of exploring boundary in literature? Ulysses explores the boundaries of literature, but there are much easier texts to reference in order to do so. I also must add, the book isn't a new form of storytelling; graphic memoirs such as Craig Thompson's Blankets was published in 2003 which is three years prior to the publication Bechdel's Fun Home. And a quick search of graphic memoirs, shows there are many more. The book has brilliant prose, incredible depth of concept, brutal honesty, coming of age questions, and an unusual format. The graphic style is superb, but if the sole purpose was to be unusual in format, Bechdel would not have created such a masterpiece; it is a beautiful fusion of graphic comic and memoir. Without her graphic comic style would Bechdel have been able to explore different diagetics? Can an author write in first person as a narrator with ominisence (extradiegetic) and in first person without it (intra-diegetic), in the same book? Absolutely. (eg. A person reading their autobiography, and every couple of chapters switching) Would they be able to visually show it? No. Bechdel's style is extremely important and necessary, but it is not the purpose of the Fun Home.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Peter. The book Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf is often credited with advancing the novel format with new techniques; however, when I read it, I got the impression that that was the entire purpose of the book. The story within was simply a vehicle for Woolf to expand upon current modes of literary expression. When I read Fun Home, I did not get that impression; to the contrary, I saw the graphic memoir format as adding dimension and support to the story. Furthermore, Bechdel would have a very weak claim to having had created a "virtually new form of storytelling" since as Peter pointed out the genre has already been pioneered by the likes of Art Spiegelman and Craig Thompson.
ReplyDeletegoing off of what sam had posted earlier.. i found that the novel did have alot of meaning toward the end of it. it wasn't just thrown together to try and make us more intrigued as an audience, it meant something and it was her life story
ReplyDeleteI agree. This was an emotional subject for Alison and I'm sure it made her feel good to let it out.
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