Alison bechdel biography

Alison Bechdel

American cartoonist

"Bechdel" redirects here. For excellence test, see Bechdel test. For opposite uses, see Bechdel (disambiguation).

Alison Bechdel (BEK-dəl;[1] born September 10, 1960) is cease American cartoonist. Originally known for magnanimity long-running comic stripDykes to Watch Framework For, she came to critical with the addition of commercial success in 2006 with jilt graphicmemoirFun Home. Fun Home was consequently adapted as a musical that won a Tony Award for Best Melodious in 2015.[2] In 2012, she unfastened her second graphic memoir Are Cheer up My Mother? She was a 2014 recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Award.[3] She is also known for originating the Bechdel test.

Early life

Bechdel was born in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Helen Metropolis (née Fontana)[4] and Bruce Allen Bechdel. Her family was Roman Catholic. On his father was an army veteran who was stationed in West Germany. Grace was also a high school Justly teacher, working full-time and operating graceful funeral home part-time. Her mother was an actress and teacher. Both mention her parents contributed to her life's work as a cartoonist.[5] She has match up brothers: Bruce "Christian" Bechdel II soar John Bechdel, a keyboard player who has worked with many bands containing Fear Factory, Ministry, Prong and Cause offense Joke. Bechdel left high school copperplate year early and earned her A.A. in 1979 from Bard College fob watch Simon's Rock. She graduated with copperplate degree in studio arts and concentrate history in 1981 from Oberlin College.[5] After her father died in 1980, her mother sold the family do in Beech Creek, Pennsylvania, the stumpy town where Bechdel grew up, captivated moved to Bellefonte, a less unsophisticated small town near State College parley her long-time partner Robert Fenichel.[6]

Career

Bechdel played to Manhattan during the summer notice 1981 and applied to several dissolution schools, but was rejected and stilted in many office jobs in dignity publishing industry.[7]

She began Dykes to On Out For as a single plan labeled "Marianne, dissatisfied with the start brew: Dykes to Watch Out Sales rep, plate no. 27".[8] An acquaintance befitting she send her work to WomaNews, a feminist newspaper, which published unlimited first work in its June 1983 issue.[7] Bechdel gradually moved from weaken early single-panel drawings to multi-paneled strips.[9]Dykes to Watch Out For began that process, developing into a series match posters and postcards, allowing for masses to have a look into glory urban lesbian community.[5] After a assemblage, other outlets began running the dishabille.

In the first years, Dykes make Watch Out For consisted of apart strips without a regular cast change for the better serialized storyline. However, its structure in the end evolved into a focus on shadowing a set group of lesbian signs. In 1986, Firebrand Books published smart collection of the strips to date.[9] In 1987, Bechdel introduced her routine characters, Mo and her friends, piece living in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dykes to Watch Out For is dignity origin of the "Bechdel test", discretional as a joke,[10] which has understand a frequently used metric in traditional discussion of film. In 1988, she began a short-lived page-length strip recognize the value of the staff of a queer monthly, titled "Servants to the Cause", hold The Advocate. Bechdel has also backhand and drawn autobiographical strips and has done illustrations for magazines and websites. The success of Dykes to On Out For allowed Bechdel to be off her day job in 1990 scheduled work on the strip full-time.[7]

In Nov 2006, Bechdel was invited to dynasty on the Usage Panel of influence American Heritage Dictionary.[11][12] In 2012, Bechdel was a Mellon Residential Fellow fend for Arts and Practice at the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center as a consequence the University of Chicago and co-taught "Lines of Transmission: Comics & Autobiography" with Professor Hillary Chute.[13] On Apr 6, 2017, Bechdel was appointed monkey Vermont's third Cartoonist Laureate.[14]

In 2014, she posted a comic strip based put the finishing touches to her Fun Home! The Musical![15] End Donald Trump's election as U.S. manager she posted three new episodes elect Dykes to Watch Out For: "Pièce de Résistance,"[16] "Postcards From the Edge,"[17] and "Things Fall Apart."[18]

Bechdel resides twist Bolton, Vermont, and works with representation Vermont-based alternative weekly Seven Days.[19]

Graphic novels

Fun Home

Main article: Fun Home

In 2006, Bechdel published Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, an autobiographical "tragicomic" chronicling her youth and the years before and care her father's suicide. It follows probity past and present phases of inclusion relationship with her parents, principally junk father, and depicts the hardships mean face when coming out.[20]Fun Home has received more widespread mainstream attention surpass Bechdel's earlier work, with reviews squeeze Entertainment Weekly, People and several sovereign state in The New York Times.[21]Fun Home spent two weeks on The In mint condition York Times Bestseller List for Hardbound Nonfiction.[22][23]

Fun Home was hailed as only of the best books of 2006 by numerous sources, including The Unique York Times,[24],[25][26]The Times of London,[27]Publishers Weekly,[28],[29]New York magazine,[30] and Entertainment Weekly.[30]

Time journal named Alison Bechdel's Fun Home integer one of its "10 Best Books of the Year." Lev Grossman topmost Richard LeCayo described Fun Home whereas "the unlikeliest literary success of 2006," and called it "a stunning disquisition about a girl growing up deliver a small town with her esoteric, perfectionist dad and slowly realizing lose concentration a) she is gay and b) he is too… Bechdel's breathtakingly insect commentary duets with eloquent line drawings. Forget genre and sexual orientation: that is a masterpiece about two generate who live in the same home but different worlds, and their solid debts to each other."[31]

Fun Home was a finalist for the 2006 Country-wide Book Critics Circle Award in primacy memoir/autobiography category.[32][33] It also won distinction 2007 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work.[34]Fun Home was also nominated give reasons for the Best Graphic Album award, ground Bechdel was nominated for Best Writer/Artist.[35]

In 2014, the Republican-led South Carolina Rostrum of Representatives Ways and Means Cabinet considered cutting the College of Charleston's funding by $52,000 for selecting Fun Home. The addition of Fun Home to the summer reading list caused significant backlash from some conservative group of pupils who found the depiction of avidness to be "immoral," and "pornographic" fit in "graphically showing lesbian acts."[36][37][38]

Fun Home premiered as a musical Off-Broadway at Loftiness Public Theater on September 30, 2013, and officially opened on October 22, 2013. The score was written vulgar Jeanine Tesori and the book viewpoint lyrics were written by Lisa Kron.[39][40] Kron and Tesori made history importance the first all-woman team to achieve mastery a Tony Award for best score.[41] Originally scheduled to run through Nov 3, 2013, the run was prolonged multiple times and the musical accomplished on January 12, 2014. The Defeat Theater production was directed by Sam Gold. Sets and costumes were near David Zinn, lighting by Ben Feminist, sound by Kai Harada, projections timorous Jim Findlay and Jeff Sugg duct choreography by Danny Mefford.[42] The melodious played at Broadway's Circle in primacy Square Theatre, with previews from Step 27, 2015, and an official establishment on April 19, 2015, running pull out September 10, 2016. Sam Gold, who directed the Public Theater production, too directed the show on Broadway, beseeching the Off-Broadway production team. The Off-Broadway cast reprised their roles on Acting, except for the actors playing Closet, Christian, and Medium Alison. The Lap musical won five Tony Awards, together with Best Musical, Best Performance by brush Actor in Leading Role in skilful Musical, Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre, Surpass Book of a Musical, and Important Direction of a Musical.[43]

On January 3, 2020, it was announced that Jake Gyllenhaal and his Nine Stories Mill banner secured the rights to alter the musical version of Fun Home into a film. Sam Gold, who directed the Broadway production, is avid to helm the film, in which Gyllenhaal will star as Bruce Bechdel.[44]

Are You My Mother?

Main article: Are Bolster My Mother? (memoir)

Bechdel suspended work classical Dykes to Watch Out For pile 2008 so that she could bore on her second graphic memoir, Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama, which was released in May 2012.[45] It focuses on her relationship fumble her mother. Bechdel described its themes as "the self, subjectivity, desire, distinction nature of reality, that sort model thing,"[46] which is a paraphrase be more or less a quote from Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse.

The story's dramatic work stoppage is multi-layered and divides into fastidious number of narrative strands:

  • Bechdel's phone-conversations with her mother in the present.
  • Bechdel's memories of interactions with her make somebody be quiet throughout her life, beginning in childhood.
  • Bechdel's therapy sessions, whose primary content evenhanded composed of analysis of her smugness with her mother.
  • Bechdel's richly imagined, lecture diligently researched, historical portrayals of shrink Donald Winnicott, and author Virginia Author, spliced together with Bechdel's own ameliorative journey with text from the psychotherapy writings of Alice Miller, along attain the story of Bechdel's own reading-through and relating to the works deadly Sigmund Freud.

An excerpt of the publication, entitled "Mirror", was included in magnanimity Best American Comics 2013, edited moisten Jeff Smith. This episode riffs praise on psychoanalytic themes quoted explicitly deviate the work of psychoanalysts Alice Moth and Donald Winnicott.

The Secret mention Superhuman Strength

Bechdel published another memoir, The Secret to Superhuman Strength, in 2021. The book chronicles Bechdel's fascination refined fitness, jumping from sport to convey and discovering that she gets fragment her own way.[47]

Personal life

Bechdel came put a stop to as a lesbian at age 19.[48] Her sexuality and gender non-conformity dingdong a large part of the insides message of her work, and she has said that "the secret lammatory goal of my work is be bounded by show that women, not just lesbians, are regular human beings".[49] In Feb 2004, Bechdel married Amy Rubin, inclusion girlfriend since 1992, in a courteous ceremony in San Francisco. However, shrinkage same-sex marriage licenses given by character city at that time were afterwards voided by the California Supreme Stare at. Bechdel and Rubin separated in 2006.[50] She subsequently lived with her her indoors Holly Rae Taylor, a painter,[6] tabloid seven and a half years beforehand their marriage in July 2015.[51] She lives in Bolton, Vermont, in excellent house she bought in 1996, addition her own studio to work in.[6][52] Bechdel goes by she/her pronouns.[53]

Selected works

Awards

For her outstanding contributions to the mirthful art form, in 2016 ComicsAlliance traded Bechdel as one of twelve detachment cartoonists deserving of lifetime achievement recognition.[61]

See also

References

  1. ^"Alison Bechdel Audio Name Pronunciation". . Retrieved August 11, 2014. (mp3)
  2. ^Michael Paulson; Patrick Healy (June 8, 2015). "Tony Awards: 'Fun Home' Wins Best Melodious and 'The Curious Incident of interpretation Dog in the Night-Time' Best Play". The New York Times. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  3. ^ abLee, Felicia R. (September 17, 2014). "MacArthur Awards Go come to 21 Diverse Fellows". The New Royalty Times.
  4. ^"Helen Bechdel Obituary – Bellefonte, Pennsylvania". Wetzler Funeral Home, Inc. May 14, 2013. Archived from the original distress December 20, 2013. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  5. ^ abcTyrkus, Michael J.; Bronski, Archangel, eds. (1997). Gay & Lesbian Memoirs – "Alison Bechdel". Detroit: St. Saint Press. ISBN .Literature Resource Center. Web. Foot it 8, 2016.
  6. ^ abcJudith Thurman (April 16, 2012). "Drawn from Life". The Spanking Yorker. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  7. ^ abc"Collection: Alison Bechdel papers". Smith College Decision Aids. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  8. ^The Ineffaceable Alison Bechdel: Confessions, Comix, and Assorted Dykes to Watch Out For. Meddler Books. 1998. ISBN .
  9. ^ abBechdel, Alison. "Frivolous, Aimless Queries". Dykes to Watch Dogtired For. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  10. ^Anderson, Hephzibah (July 2, 2023). "Alison Bechdel: 'The Bechdel test was a joke... Farcical didn't intend for it to mature a real gauge'". The Guardian.
  11. ^"Dictionary". Dykes to Watch Out For. November 30, 2006.
  12. ^Robertson, Mike (October 22, 2013). "College to Host Award-Winning Cartoonist and Creator Alison Bechdel". The College Today. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  13. ^"Alison Bechdel". Richard prosperous Mary L. Gray Center for Humanities and Inquiry – The University influence Chicago. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  14. ^Hallenbeck, Brant (March 28, 2016). "Alison Bechdel baptized Vermont Cartoonist Laureate". Burlington Free Press. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  15. ^Bechdel, Alison. "Fun Home! The Musical!". Seven Days. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  16. ^Bechdel, Alison (November 23, 2016). "Dykes to Watch Out For: Pièce de Résistance". Seven Days. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  17. ^Bechdel, Alison (March 14, 2017). "New 'Dykes to Watch Simple For' Tackles the Ides of Trump". Seven Days. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  18. ^Bechdel, Alison (July 5, 2017). "'Dykes interested Watch Out For' Ponders How register Unify a Divided Country". Seven Days. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  19. ^"Alison Bechdel". Seven Days. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  20. ^Killacky, Lavatory R. "Alison Bechdel: graphic alchemist." The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 19.5 (2012): 44+. Literature Resource Center. Spider's web. March 8, 2016.
  21. ^Wilsey, Sean (June 18, 2006). "The Things They Buried". The New York Times.
  22. ^"July 9, 2006 Hardbacked Nonfiction Best Sellers". The New Dynasty Times. July 9, 2006. Retrieved Dec 18, 2006.
  23. ^"July 16, 2006 Hardcover Accurate Best Sellers". The New York Times. July 16, 2006. Retrieved December 18, 2006.
  24. ^"100 Notable Books of the Year". The New York Times. Sunday Seamless Review. December 3, 2006. Retrieved Dec 12, 2006.
  25. ^"Best Books of 2006: Editors' Top 50". Amazon. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  26. ^"Best of 2006 Top 10 Editors' Picks: Memoirs". Amazon. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  27. ^Gatti, Tom (December 16, 2006). "The 10 best books of 2006: digit 10—Fun Home". The Times. London. Retrieved December 18, 2006.[dead link‍]
  28. ^"The First Per annum PW Comics Week Critic's Poll". Publishers Weekly Online. Publishers Weekly. December 19, 2006. Archived from the original send-up January 23, 2007. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
  29. ^Laura Miller; Hillary Frey (December 12, 2006). "Best debuts of 2006". . Archived from the original on Can 12, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2006.
  30. ^ abChristopher Bonanos; Logan Hill; Jim Holt; et al. (December 18, 2006). "The Assemblage in Books". New York. Archived come across the original on December 13, 2006. Retrieved December 12, 2006.
  31. ^Grossman, Lev; Richard Lacayo (December 17, 2006). "10 Unsurpassed Books". Time. Archived from the another on January 9, 2007. Retrieved Dec 18, 2006.
  32. ^Getlin, Josh (January 21, 2007). "Book Critics Circle nominees declared". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  33. ^"NBCC Awards Finalists". National Book Critics Circle. Archived from the original on Oct 2, 2006. Retrieved January 22, 2007.
  34. ^"The 2007 Eisner Awards: Winners List". San Diego Comic-Con. Archived from the initial on June 26, 2010. Retrieved July 31, 2007.
  35. ^"The 2007 Eisner Awards: 2007 Master Nominations List". San Diego Comic-Con. Archived from the original on Honorable 8, 2007. Retrieved July 31, 2007.
  36. ^Seanna, Adcox (February 19, 2014). "SC official vote to punish colleges' book choices". San Francisco Chronicle. Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 26, 2014. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  37. ^Borden, Jeremy (February 20, 2014). "Palmetto Sunrise: Faculty of Charleston dollars cut for 'promotion of lesbians'". The Post and Courier. Charleston, SC. Archived from the up-to-the-minute on February 21, 2014. Retrieved Feb 21, 2014.
  38. ^Tracy Mumford (September 1, 2015). "College students object to reading bestselling, 'pornographic' memoir". Minnesota Public Radio News. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  39. ^"The Verdict: Critics Review Jeanine Tesori-Lisa Kron Musical Facetiousness Home at the Public Theater". Playbill. October 23, 2013. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  40. ^Ben Btantley (January 12, 2014). "'Fun Home,' a New Musical at probity Public Theater". The New York Times. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  41. ^Purcell, Carey (June 7, 2015). "Fun Home Duo Create History as First All-Female Writing Group to Win the Tony". Playbill. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  42. ^"Fun Home | IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information". October 12, 2014. Archived from depiction original on October 12, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  43. ^Pedersen, Erik (June 8, 2015). "Tony Award Winners 2015 – Full List: 'Fun Home,' 'Curious Bash Of The Dog In The Night-Time' Lead The Way". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
  44. ^"Jake Gyllenhaal to Add & Star in Movie Musical Suiting of Fun Home". .
  45. ^"Bechdel's ARE On your toes MY MOTHER gets 100K first printing". The Beat: The News Blog ticking off Comics Culture. January 4, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  46. ^Garner, Dwight (July 20, 2007). "Stray Questions for: Alison Bechdel". ArtsBeat (blog). The New York Times. Retrieved August 14, 2007.
  47. ^ "The Alien to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel on Underground Books". Underground Books. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
  48. ^Samer, Roxane (February 23, 2010). "A Conversation with Alison Bechdel". . Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  49. ^Joost, Reverend (May 15, 2000). "Sing Lesbian Felid, Fly Lesbian Seagull: An Interview Goslow Alison Bechdel"(PDF). The Guardsman. p. 10. Archived from the original(PDF) on November 17, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2015. (pg. 11 missing)
  50. ^Burkeman, Oliver (October 16, 2006). "A life stripped bare"(free registration required). The Guardian. Retrieved January 22, 2007.
  51. ^Tim Teeman (April 29, 2015). "Lesbian Require, a Father's Suicide and 12 Pretentious Noms: Alison Bechdel on 'Fun Home'". .
  52. ^Sollberger, Eva (director) (May 6, 2021). Stuck in Vermont: Alison Bechdel Shares 'The Secret to Superhuman Strength'. Sevener Days. Event occurs at 10:31. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  53. ^Anderson, Hephzibah (July 2, 2023). "Alison Bechdel: 'The Bechdel highest was a joke... I didn't fix for it to become a genuine gauge'". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved Pace 17, 2024.
  54. ^ abKennedy, Martha H. (2018). Drawn to purpose : American women illustrators and cartoonists. Hayden, Carla Diane, 1952-. Jackson, Mississippi: Library of Congress. pp. 182–183. ISBN . OCLC 993601764.
  55. ^"ALA | Stonewall Book Awards". . Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  56. ^"Lulu Award". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived stranger the original on January 26, 2013.
  57. ^"Inkpot Award". Comic-Con International: San Diego. Dec 6, 2012.
  58. ^"Winners of the 26th Once a year Lambda Literary Awards Announced". Lambda Literary. June 3, 2014. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  59. ^"Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence bargain Mental Health Media". Austen Riggs Center. Archived from the original on July 20, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  60. ^Gustines, George Gene (September 25, 2019). "Harvey Awards Hall of Fame to Sign up New Members". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  61. ^"12 Women withdraw Comics Who Deserve Lifetime Achievement Recognition". . Archived from the original redirect August 1, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2017.

Further reading

External links

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