CONSTRUCTING A SELF BETWEEN IMAGE AND TEXT: READING BECHDEL’S FUN HOME
Graphic memoirs offer a visual representation of the relationship between a moment and the construction of memory. McCloud describes the work of the comic author and the reader as a dance between “the seen and the unseen”. This is what makes the medium of graphic memoirs unique, as it “gives so much...
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National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad
2021-12-01
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| Series: | NUML Journal of Critical Inquiry |
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| Online Access: | https://jci.numl.edu.pk/index.php/jci/article/view/134 |
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| author | Zainab Younus |
| author_facet | Zainab Younus |
| author_sort | Zainab Younus |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Graphic memoirs offer a visual representation of the relationship between a moment and the construction of memory. McCloud describes the work of the comic author and the reader as a dance between “the seen and the unseen”. This is what makes the medium of graphic memoirs unique, as it “gives so much to its audience while asking so much from them as well” (1993, p. 92). My aim in this paper is to ascertain the impact using graphic conventions has on the effective and affective construction of meaning and identity in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2006) and howr The Gutter becomes even more significant in graphic memoirs, because the use of panels can fracture the flow of the narrative into the sequenced segments which alternate with the blank spaces of the gutters. These blank spaces represent an effort to redefine the “connections between memory and history, private experience and public life” via a written account and the “act of witness” represented by a combination of the visual and the verbal (Cvetkovich, 2008, 111-20). Using this mix of image and text, Bechdel creates an almost palimpsestic effect as a majority of panels show items layered over other images, indicating a blending between the narrative of Bechdel’s real life experience and the representation of that life experience in the text. For the reader, this can imply a way to address the gaps in knowledge not only for them but also for Bechdel herself. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-095fe70e774548188082d7bda7d6b40f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2789-4665 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad |
| record_format | Article |
| series | NUML Journal of Critical Inquiry |
| spelling | doaj-art-095fe70e774548188082d7bda7d6b40f2024-11-22T05:37:57ZengNational University of Modern Languages (NUML), IslamabadNUML Journal of Critical Inquiry2789-46652021-12-0119110.52015/numljci.v19i1.134134CONSTRUCTING A SELF BETWEEN IMAGE AND TEXT: READING BECHDEL’S FUN HOMEZainab Younus0Indiana University of PennsylvaniaGraphic memoirs offer a visual representation of the relationship between a moment and the construction of memory. McCloud describes the work of the comic author and the reader as a dance between “the seen and the unseen”. This is what makes the medium of graphic memoirs unique, as it “gives so much to its audience while asking so much from them as well” (1993, p. 92). My aim in this paper is to ascertain the impact using graphic conventions has on the effective and affective construction of meaning and identity in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2006) and howr The Gutter becomes even more significant in graphic memoirs, because the use of panels can fracture the flow of the narrative into the sequenced segments which alternate with the blank spaces of the gutters. These blank spaces represent an effort to redefine the “connections between memory and history, private experience and public life” via a written account and the “act of witness” represented by a combination of the visual and the verbal (Cvetkovich, 2008, 111-20). Using this mix of image and text, Bechdel creates an almost palimpsestic effect as a majority of panels show items layered over other images, indicating a blending between the narrative of Bechdel’s real life experience and the representation of that life experience in the text. For the reader, this can imply a way to address the gaps in knowledge not only for them but also for Bechdel herself.https://jci.numl.edu.pk/index.php/jci/article/view/134bechdelfun homememoirgraphic novel |
| spellingShingle | Zainab Younus CONSTRUCTING A SELF BETWEEN IMAGE AND TEXT: READING BECHDEL’S FUN HOME NUML Journal of Critical Inquiry bechdel fun home memoir graphic novel |
| title | CONSTRUCTING A SELF BETWEEN IMAGE AND TEXT: READING BECHDEL’S FUN HOME |
| title_full | CONSTRUCTING A SELF BETWEEN IMAGE AND TEXT: READING BECHDEL’S FUN HOME |
| title_fullStr | CONSTRUCTING A SELF BETWEEN IMAGE AND TEXT: READING BECHDEL’S FUN HOME |
| title_full_unstemmed | CONSTRUCTING A SELF BETWEEN IMAGE AND TEXT: READING BECHDEL’S FUN HOME |
| title_short | CONSTRUCTING A SELF BETWEEN IMAGE AND TEXT: READING BECHDEL’S FUN HOME |
| title_sort | constructing a self between image and text reading bechdel s fun home |
| topic | bechdel fun home memoir graphic novel |
| url | https://jci.numl.edu.pk/index.php/jci/article/view/134 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT zainabyounus constructingaselfbetweenimageandtextreadingbechdelsfunhome |