CAHSS Faculty Articles
Title
Review: Multimodal Literacies and Graphic Memoirs: Using Alison Bechdel in the Classroom
Department
Department of Writing and Communication
Publication Date
Spring 2015
Publication Title
Composition Studies
ISSN
1542-5894
Volume
43
Issue/No.
1
First Page
193
Last Page
200
Abstract
In Dale Jacobs' Graphic Encounters, he discusses the importance of "[c]omplicating the view of comics so that they are not seen as simply an intermediary step to more complex word-based texts" (17). Jacobs writes that comics' readers require use of the visual, gestural, and spatial elements displayed in the panels and gutter space on a page in order to truly understand a text (14). Alison Bechdel's graphic memoirs Fun Home and Are You My Mother? further complicate the literacies needed to understand comics as she layers her memoirs with archival, literacy, and psychoanalytic figures and concepts. More than a book about her family, Bechdel's memoirs look closely at sexuality, relationships, and self-realization within herself and others. As Jacobs' work attests, graphic memoirs like Bechdel's are both interesting reads and valuable pedagogical tools. Brought into the composition classroom, these memoirs provide entry points into discussions of literacy acquisition and the writing process, research and source material, and multimodal meaning-making practices.
NSUWorks Citation
Morris, J. (2015). Review: Multimodal Literacies and Graphic Memoirs: Using Alison Bechdel in the Classroom. Composition Studies, 43 (1), 193-200. Retrieved from https://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_facarticles/524
ORCID ID
0000-0002-0319-4918
