Allison Bechdel's home page

I have only recently read Allison Bechdel's _Fun House_, which we'll be reading in the spring as the "anchor" book (that is, the one we'll all read and discuss AS a class, as a model) for our unit on the autobiographical/memoir as a genre or area of concern within the overall world of graphic novels. That's no small thing in our study, since I'd argue--I'm gonna argue, starting the third week of January--that the memoir/autobiography is the most potent form of graphic novels: I think of Harvey Pekar, Ariel Schrag, Gene Yang, and I can't get past thinking this is where much of the best of the work is.

But then there's all the other work--like Tomine's, which is closer to true fiction; and like Spiegelman's and Satrapi's.

Bechdel made her name on her long-running strip, _Dykes to Watch Out For_. In an interview she underscores the multiple suggestions in that very title, and that is part of the richness of her work: she is no reductionist when it comes to human behavior. Here's a link to the _Dykes_ site:

Dykes to Watch Out For

Welcome to the official blog for English 155D

GraNovel is the blog for Diablo Valley College's (Pleasant Hill, CA, USA) first offering
of our new course Graphic Novels as Literature.

English 155D meets in person Tuesdays & Thursdays from 12:30 to 1:45
the spring semester of 2007. Students and other participants will post here
as part of the ongoing discussion of course work specifically and the world
of graphic novels in general.


J