Bechdel uses allusions to literature throughout fun home both as a narrator and as a character as a way of analyzing and making sense of her memories. Based on a true story the film opens in white sulphur springs, west virginia in 1926. Awards in two categories, best realitybased work and best graphic album. My realization at nineteen that i was a lesbian came about in a manner consistent with my bookish upbringing. Their conversation is based around a previously illustrated event the gift of a book with obvious homosexual themes and the halting. A family tragicomic is a graphic memoir a work of nonfiction told in pictures by alison bechdel which recounts her coming out as a lesbian, her fathers repressed bisexuality, and the relationship between bechdel and her father. Alison bechdel is the author of the bestselling memoir fun home. 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. Based on alison bechdels bestselling graphic memoir.
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, adapted into a tony awardwinning musical, and are you my mother. See more ideas about books, book recommendations, activities. As alison grows older and realizes that she is a lesbian, she and bruce are both forced to confront how his repression may have affected her. Fun home creator alison bechdel on turning a tragic childhood into a hit musical. 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. The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, dysfunctional family. Seventh sanctum seventh sanctum has several fun and interesting generators that can be used for plot and story ideas.
These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of fun home by alison bechdel. By alex abadsantos and libby nelson aug 26, 2015, 1. As she grows up, alison feels a constant and growing shame that is centered around. A plot mountain diagram is often used when learning storytelling or. Apr 4, 2020 book recommendations, literature based activities, and ideas for organizing and enjoying books with kids. Bruce bechdel is obsessed with restoring his familys old. Before fun home, she had worked in relative obscurity. Fun home themes from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. Either that or my nostalgia for the book has since coloured my readings with good will and. The official wants to sent katherine to a school for gifted students shes an advanced student and a genius at math. Ill also admit its difficult to judge a musical on the page, but this one is more readable and coherent than most. Fun home creator alison bechdel on turning a tragic. The titles fun home refers to the family funeral parlour where her father worked and is an appropriate setting for bechdels investigation of loss and grief.
It chronicles the authors childhood and youth in rural pennsylvania, united states, focusing on her complex relationship with her father. Development of the plot has been done by producers for 4 years, starting from 2009, when there were usual workshops, and then, after 2 years, the first readings held. 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. She uses this childhood game to set up a recurring comparison between her relationship with her father and the mythical relationship between icarus and daedalus. Finding a book when youve forgotten its title the new. I read the graphic novel that this is based off a few years ago, but wasnt as profoundly moved or affected as i was reading the. The question and answer section for fun home is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. It has won several award and was nominated for 2007 eisner awards. Fun home is a musical adapted by lisa kron and jeanine tesori from alison bechdels 2006. The last of bookers basic plots, rebellion against the one concerns a hero who rebels against the allpowerful entity that controls the world until he is forced to surrender to that power. Fun home is an entertaining and poignant autobiography of bechdels childhood. Were considering expanding this synopsis into a fulllength study guide to deepen your comprehension of the book and why its important. There are three major reoccurring themes throughout the graphic memoir fun home by alison bechdel. More specifically, fun home is the story of alisons coming of age while grappling with her lesbian gender identity and the way that identity differs from the expectations imposed on her by society.
Alison bechdel include complex themes of homosexuality, suicide, and gender roles within her novel. It was a book about a young girl who escapes her home after killing her mothers boyfriend after. Throughout the memoir both alison and her father struggle in the face. Fun home is a musical adapted by lisa kron and jeanine tesori from alison bechdels 2006 graphic memoir of the same name. Bechdel underlines the fact that she has always had an unexpected reaction to death she is indifferent upon seeing her first corpse and can only feel irritation in. Fun home old father, old artificer summary and analysis. Its the story of her growing up, her coming of age. Described by the times of london as a profound and important book fun home. Select from a variety of genres including romance, mystery or teen vampire. Bechdel has been named a macarthur fellow and cartoonist laureate of vermont, among many other honors. As fun home progresses, alison is drawn deeper and deeper into her memories, finally entering into them, desperate but unable to reverse her fathers selfdestruction. What librarian could resist a novel that has the word book in its title, is centered on an intrepid book conservator, exults in book preservation exotica and has a plot about a rare book with a long, fraught and serpentine history.
The plot diagram song will help you increase your storytelling power and learn the elements of plot. Summary plot overview jane eyre is a young orphan being raised by mrs. A family tragicomic is a graphic novel memoir of the authors childhood, particularly focused on her relationship with her closeted gay father bruce. A year later, subsequent studies were continued and only two actors from the initial team joined the production on broadway. Alison bechdels fun home and michel foucaults repressive hypothesis the valley of the shadow of text. First published in 2006, this graphic novel has received highly positive acclaim from critics. Several publications named fun home as one of the best books of 2006. A family tragicomic, by alison bechdel the new york. In the first age is 10yearsold teenager, a girl who is just beginning to be aware of personal oomph, and she had no one to share it, because her father is busy in. Book title generator the ultimate bank of 10,000 titles. A servant named bessie provides jane with some of the few kindnesses she receives, telling her stories and singing songs to her. Alison bechdel s memoir begins with a scene of the writer as a young girl playing airplane with her father, bruce. It is also the familys residence and the fun home of the title. Inside fun home, graphic novel turned broadway musical.
To put it in less crude terms, both books overflow with selfconscious references to classic literature both use the odyssey in a major way. A young katherine coleman lidya jewett is waiting, naming the geometric shapes in a stained glass window, while her parents talk to a school official. This journey leads to a moment when characters succeed or. Fun home is a graphic memoir in which alison bechdel describes her childhood and early adulthood. Do you think the story was plot based or character driven. Alison notes how books were just as important to bruces intellectual development as her own, and she delves into his youthful obsession with f. Answer a few quick questions and this website will automatically write a story or blurb for you using your keywords. Springhole plot generators you will a couple dozen plot generators on this site including generators for horror plots, romance plots, mysterious findings for mystery plots and more. As fun home progresses, alison is drawn deeper and deeper into her memories. The chapter titles, the very framework of her nonlinear narrative, are all references to works of mostly modernist literature that have influenced bechdel over the course of her life. Writerartist alison bechdels book fun home, a memoir in comics format, was published in 2006 to critical acclaim. Fun home summary from litcharts the creators of sparknotes.
Fun home creator alison bechdel on turning a tragic childhood into. The memoir fun home is based on bechdels father, bruce bechdel, and talks about his personality, hidden homosexuality, and death. Submit a short story based on one of 5 weekly prompts. A family tragicomic is an autobiographical graphic novel by american comic writer and artist alison bechdel. Finding a book when youve forgotten its title by gwen glazer, communications november 22, 2017.
But fun home quietly succeeds in telling a story, not only through wellcrafted. A family tragicomic includes a complete plot overview spoilers included. A family tragicomic put me in the same irritated and impatient mood experienced when reading toni morrisons the song of solomon in high school. Her family owns a funeral home in a small town so her father works as an english teacher, her mother an actress. 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. But the intense bibliographic appeal of people of the book turns out to be a mixed. For some reason, and it may be a reaction based upon my own opposing. Within that, she was there as the narrator, who has watched her father from her childhood to his death. But with the books acclaimed publication, its appearance on the new york.
Created for a literature in popular culture class about the graphic novel, this podcast is a visual literary criticism that analyzes the role of fiction in autobiography through a discussion of. Subtitled a family tragicomic, fun home is the story of bruce bechdel. With few exceptions, successful fiction needs to have a clear plot that takes your characters from their normal lives and through a series of battles. A family tragicomic is an autobiographical graphic novel that focuses on the authors relationship with her father. Even before her fathers passing, death is a constant presence in alison bechdels life because she grows up around the funeral home from which the book gets its name, fun home. Scholastic s story starters kids writing activity generates creative writing prompts, from general fiction to adventure, fantasy, and science fiction. Fun home, is based on a graphic memoir written by the daughter of a pennsylvania undertaker. More specifically, fun home is the story of alisons coming of age while grappling with her lesbian gender identity and the way that identity differs from the expectations imposed on her by.
Or if you think that generators are fun and all but that youd rather create your own book title. Beneath his icy reserve and fussy perfectionism, he is a barely closeted homosexual and a suspected pedophile, an imposing but distant presence to his young daughter, who finds that their main bond is a shared literary sensibility. Fun home synopsis broadway musical intricate plot, in which several storylines are interwoven that are created by the same people, only at different times of their life and age. The hero is a solitary figure who initially feels the one is at fault and that he must preserve his independence or. Fun home plot summary, character breakdowns, context and analysis, and performance video clips. I cant remember enough specifics to compare details, but i do feel like fun home captured the essentials of that story and kept the heart of bechdels memoir. A family tragicomic is a 2006 graphic memoir by the american cartoonist alison. A family tragicomic is a 2006 graphic memoir by the american cartoonist alison bechdel, author of the comic strip dykes to watch out for. Based on alison bechdels bestselling graphic memoir, fun home features music by jeanine tesori, book and lyrics by lisa kron and direction. An unforgettable and groundbreaking musical, fun home explores the haunting pull of memory and the power it has to alternately destroy or shape, our identity.