Bauer Heike
a Department of English and Humanities, School of Arts, Birkbeck , University of London , London , UK.
J Lesbian Stud. 2014;18(3):266-81. doi: 10.1080/10894160.2014.896614.
This article examines the representation of a transnational archive of queer books in Alison Bechdel's graphic memoirs Fun Home and Are You My Mother? for the insights it provides into the role of reading in making sense of the often difficult "felt experiences" of lesbian life. In both memoirs, books serve an important narrative function in the portrayal of Alison's lesbian identification and its complex emotional entanglements with the lives of parents who are trapped-killed even, in the case of the father-in the wastelands of patriarchy and heterosexual expectation. The article argues that in this complex family dynamic in which "sexual identity" itself is a problem and emotions remain largely unspoken, books act as fragile conduits of feelings, shaping familial relationships even as they allow Alison to contextualize her life in relation to historical events and social norms. Reading books allows her to understand the apparently U.S.-specific history of her family in relation to a wider queer history in the West.
本文考察了艾莉森·比尔德（Alison Bechdel）的图文回忆录《欢乐之家》（Fun Home）和《你是我妈妈吗？》（Are You My Mother?）中一个跨国同性恋书籍档案馆的呈现，因为它能让我们洞察阅读在理解女同性恋生活中常常艰难的“切身感受”时所起的作用。在这两部回忆录中，书籍在描绘艾莉森的女同性恋身份认同以及她与父母生活的复杂情感纠葛中发挥了重要的叙事功能，她的父母深陷——甚至在父亲的例子中是被困死在父权制和异性恋期望的荒原之中。本文认为，在这种“性身份”本身就是一个问题且情感大多难以言说的复杂家庭动态中，书籍充当了情感的脆弱传递渠道，塑造了家庭关系，同时也让艾莉森能够将自己的生活与历史事件和社会规范联系起来。阅读书籍使她能够将自己家庭看似特定于美国的历史与西方更广泛的同性恋历史联系起来。
