lists
December 12th, 2009 | Uncategorized
To my great delight and slight bewilderment, Fun Home has been making it onto all these best of the decade lists.
Salon: ten best nonfiction books of the decade.
Entertainment Weekly: Best Books of the Decade
The Onion AV Club: best comics of the ’00s
The London Times: top 100 books of the decade
My mom congratulated me on the Entertainment Weekly list, and said “You have a gay admirer there.” Most of the time I think like my mom–that I’ve managed to squeak into these things because of someone’s bias, or maybe even a clerical error. And god knows, lists are subjective and problematic undertakings. But you know what? I’m going to man up here and accept some credit. Maybe I’ll even start smoking a pipe.
Okay, “to man up.” Discuss.
Late breaking, 12/14: Jezebel.com’s 8 Awesome books by women published in the 00’s.
56 Responses to “lists”
Alison~
It’s not because of someone’s bias your work is recognized. It is because your stuff is about universals we can all relate too.
I hope that makes sense. I’ve beat you to the pipe…
My mom does that to me, too. Were you talking to yours this morning?
Mija
)O(
Yeah, I agree. I too have been totally bewildered by the recognition that the book has received.
Clearly it could have nothing to do with the actual nature of the book, the brilliance of its execution, both graphically or as literature, or the genuinely ground-breaking nature of the work. Yeah, it could only be the naive bias of all those reviewers and readers that could account for the near universal acclaim that the book has seen. Truly a curious turn of event.
(good grief…..)
oops… that should have been 1 o. …we can all relate to.
Too much caffeine this morning. See, I know the difference between 1 o and 2…
to man up – to wear the pants – one of those phrases I only appreciate when subverted by women 😉
How is a pipe like a list-making admirer?
They’re both queer accessories!
Seriously, though, the straight white men have been admiring other straight white men, and putting them on their lists, for centuries. I think it’s likely that some queer (or consciously anti-homophobic) insider did indeed make sure that Fun Home got on those lists–which is exactly where it belongs. And Alison, your work, and the work of so many other lesbians, would have been there *long ago* if it weren’t for “someone’s bias.”
Yeah, I rejoice when books I love make such lists. It’s just so bracing and pleasurable to see your work getting its due.
I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive.
Why do some mediocre books get so much attention? Why do many excellent books get passed over? Having a mainstream publisher and publicist makes a big difference, but to get those, you need a have–and I hate this term–a strong product.
All that said, Fun Home is a unique book. A single supporter may have brought attention to it, but it had to stand up to continued scrutiny. And it does, with several aspects coming together: plotting, drawing, and language, and as you have told us, a powerful story at its core.
In my opinion, it comes together in a way that’s never been done before at such a high and consistent level.
All that said, is it possible that it could have been overlooked, back-burnered, dismissed? I don’t know how it works in the book review world, but I imagine that having a champion to say, hey, look at this brilliant work, is very useful to catch the attention of other reviewers.
I’ve just returned from seeing the O’Keeffe abstracts retrospective at the Whitney and wondered what would have happened to O’Keeffe if she hadn’t hooked up with Stieglitz, who supported, objectified, and used her.
My 2 (more) cents: Don’t discount your brilliance. Continue to be grateful for your champions.
I’m clearing out a filing cabinet and have come across a folder of clippings about Alison’s early work. I kept it as it inspired me and am hoping it might now inspire others.
Would anyone like it? If so, email me at ellen[dot]orleans[at]gmail.com and we can set something up.
thanks!
Ellen
In the past I’ve told male associates of mine that they needed to “woman up.” Frequent example: they tell me a female friend is “upset” and they don’t know how to respond to her expressing her feelings…
AB, you will simply have to come to terms with your talent and popularity! To quote a current U.S. senator, “You’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and gosh darn it people like you!”.
“Man Up”. And, from a previous posting, “she-wee”. I’m learning all sorts of new words! I can access DTWOF right now because I’m back at the local public library, which does not block it like the server for my campus office does. In fact, the campus server appears to be down right now, as the university library that houses our iT folk is without power. “Half the rest of campus” is also without power (to quote the nice campus police office I called from my office to report a disquieting flickering of the lights in my building). I have final exams starting Monday. If I could ululate like Xena, I’d be doing that in consternation right now!!! That’s right, “ululate”. Look THAT one up! 🙂
Oh, about the right to take a squat in the wilderness (mentioned in a previous post),
Back at geology field camp in the 1970’s (when women geologists wore plaid), I did just that early one morning at our campsite. I thought that I had gone pretty far into the woods for privacy, but when I got up and turned around, I found that I had mooned the entire camp!
Dear Alison, your work stands where it is, by both universal and personal reasons. Call “universal reasons” your magnificent drawing and narrative techniques, and the appeal for those deep feelings of any human being risen up in a family that is not quite suitable for a beverage/food TV ad. That is, almost everyone.
I, in other hand, came to your blog for particular reasons, for I come from finishing reading the nice brazilian edition of Fun Home and, well, being gay, besides a strip&comics lover, I must say how much I got touched, so beyond the aspects I mentioned above… I have so much to thank you for, since I think (and feel) you communicated so well the tight link between family love (and its hardness that we, when young, mistake for lack of it) and the particular path-finding to all the love that we Lesbian and Gay people have to face. I came here when, by coincidence, this discussion was taking place. So I have to join other before me that told you to uphold the true qualities of your work.
Finally, I must apologize for English is not my first language, and I’m sure there is a lot of errors and “ugly ways” of saying things. I wish you all good things and feelings in the world!!
@12 / Tom: When you write non-idiomatically we are refreshed by contact with thoughts that are not masked by old, used-up words.
@AB: Well, how about that! And I always thought that my lavish admiration was the Kiss of Cultural Death, with my expressed reserve a sign of impending pop greatness.
Did I buy Sanrio stock in 1974, when, living in Japan, I first encountered Hello Kitty and was fascinated, dumbfounded, and repelled? No, I did not. Which proves my point.
“starting smoking a pipe”
Alison, it’s really wonderful that your talent is being recognized. But please don’t hurt yourself by smoking. Smoking kills, and cancer is totally unbiased – it doesn’t care whether people think of themselves as male or female.
It is richly deserved. I actually got a little offended when another web site-I think it was Paste-left you off their list.
Just for the record, I think Fun Home is not only one of the greatest graphic novels of the decade, but one of the greatest graphic novels ever, and an essential work for understanding the medium.
Could not have happened to a nicer person or a better comic. Entirely, 110% deserved. Congratulations. Can’t wait to read your next work!
I think you should say “Womyn up” or “Womin Up”.
Also I wanted to share this:
http://www.cafepress.com/+anal_retentive_mug,142371699
Hmmm, if you’re getting a pipe, you’d better have some slippers and a flat cap, preferably tartan or plaid. It’s traditional garb for the more mature man in Britain. Add in a corduroy jacket with leather patches on the elbows and you could be a geography lecturer at Oxford University …
See also this look:
http://epress.anu.edu.au/nature/html/Fig16.1.jpg
I’m just really happy for you, and I hope you sell piles more copies of Fun Home.
Off-topic good news… the Houston Chronicle is projecting that lesbian mayoral candidate Annise Parker has won the mayoral runoff, making her the first LGBT mayor of a large American city.
http://blogs.chron.com/houstonpolitics/2009/12/parker_wins_it.html
Off-topic musings about the Appalachian Trail…
All the incessant chatter about Tiger Woods’ extra-curricular activities has me thinking about golf, money, and sex.
Most of the corporate sponsors are pulling their ads which feature Woods, but privately, I’m guessing that they aren’t really upset at all. The guys I’ve talked to seem to agree that “boys will be boys” and this won’t hurt Woods in the long run, the scandal will blow over. They all seem to be in awe of both Woods’ golf game and his sexual appetite.
One guy told me that men who wished they were Tiger Woods before, REALLY wish they were him now. “Golf is a rich white man’s game, and this is the ultimate rich white guy’s fantasy – exerting power, having sex with lots of women, and playing killer golf.”
“Imagine how good his golf game would be if he weren’t [insert crude verb here] all these women at once,” said another.
A third guy said this wouldn’t hurt Tiger’s marketability after about a year or two. “After all, it’s not like he was [insert crude verb here] another guy or anything. He was doing what all men do, or wish they could do.” Institutional sexism and homophobia rule, I suppose.
That called to mind Marilyn Quayle’s famous remark about Dan Quayle, after VP Quayle was hinted at having chased some other females. “Anybody who knows Dan Quayle, knows he’d rather play golf than have sex any day.”
Maybe Tiger should hook up with Dan.
And in the real Appalachian Trail news, Jenny Sanford has filed for divorce from philandering Gov. Sanford of South Carolina.
all credit coming alison’s way is deserved. loopholes and comparisons are not logical (to quote spock).
the idea that physical prowess, sexual appetite, courage, honesty, and confidence are linked to gender is an illness that keeps us from actually imagining and creating a better world. if i’d never use the phrase “man up” (or being girly or acting like a sissy, etc) in front of a 3-year-old who looked to me for a view of the adult world — and i wouldn’t — then i won’t use it around those i hope to stand among as we dream up a better way.
gender is irrelevant to decent human behavior. so is race, but we at least pay lip service to that one and understand that language choice actually wires and rewires our brains. subversion has gotten us buried or reduced to a joke. the culture war is killing people.
but then, i’m a humorless dyje. (grin)
For those who don’t want to have to scroll all the way through the London Times list, FH came in at #42. Fingersmith was #64, and I think Eats, Shoots, and Leaves was #52. (And heaven help us, Twilight was #90.)
Congrats!!
#23 — TWILIGHT being anywhere on the list invalidates all the other entries. Sorry. It is nice that FUN HOME is getting so much acclaim. I hope it brings more awareness to comics and DTWOF.
I know you probably get this all the time, but not only is it showing up on a lot of lists this year (as it should), but I know personally of a lot of teachers who regularly put it on their syllabi. I’m teaching it in a Gender in the Humanities course in a few months.
Check out today’s Doonesbury on comics:
http://www.uclick.com/feature/09/12/13/db091213.gif
Yes, parents say the darndest things don’t they?
But, despite your mother’s incredulity and disbelief, sometimes work is genuinely good in the empirical sense. I think we can say that about Fun Home (y’know in spite of my bias).
I’m going to be a good student and follow directions. I watch sports on tv, so I know something about the normal use of “man up”. “Man up”: to overcome failure, pain, or humiliation, which is what you’re doing. Also: to acknowledge one’s own past failures as a step toward overcoming them, which ironically is the opposite of what you’re doing. You are (properly) refusing to take responsibility for ideas imposed on you. But still you are acknowledging your past failure: your willingness to accept those ideas in the past. “Man up” associates the capacity for resilience and courage in the face of failure and misfortune with one gender exclusively. No need for comment on that. Finally, you draw attention to the fact that (straight, white) men are encouraged to see their accomplishments as theirs alone, while others’ accomplishments are disparaged as the results of circumstance — when the truth is that everybody’s accomplishments are due to a Gordian knot of circumstance and individual work.
Nice inversion, Alison.
Tom, 12, don’t apologize. Your English is infinitely better than my Portuguese.
hairball (#20) Yes, I saw the early results for the Houston mayor’s election last night from my office, but was powerless to post the news here! DTWOF no longer comes through on my campus server. A.B.’s been judged too subversive or something… or maybe it was something I said! The censorship situation here is probably just going to get worse after Sam Brownback becomes governor, as is widely predicted. Senator Brownback is one of the Republicans who rooms at the C-Street “church” when in Washington, D.C., with others of hia ilk. Brownback is also a son-in-law of the Koch oil family; they financed his (negative) initial campaign for the U.S. senate in 1996, when the woman who was the democratic nominee was running ahead of Brownback in the polls. Brownback also has the distinction of being the only person succesfully sued for not upholding the part of the federal constitution that provides for a democratic form of government in the states of the United States. Brownback had been Kansas commissioner of agriculture, at a time when that position was not filled by either election of the people, or by appointment by the governor. Believe it or not, private ag companies had been appointing whoever they wanted up until the lawsuit! Btw; Brownback wants to be president, someday. Hang on to your pipes, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!
@Kate L
Sounds like it’s time for you to get cheap DSL at home. You should be able to get a barebones DSL line with a one or two-year locked-in rate of about $20/month from your local telco. Of course, it will be crappy asymmetrical 256Mbit up/512Mbit down (so-called 768Mbit DSL), but it will be better than dialup and certainly better than no Internet at all at home.
If you don’t have a PC at home, start checking the neighborhood trash shortly after Xmas, you’d be amazed at what folks throw out. The more upscale the neighborhood, the better the trash.
As long as whatever rescued PC or laptop you find has a network card (or can have one installed), you’ll be fine. Forget Windoze, download a Linux live CD, and try a few distros until you find one that likes your PC hardware and that you like, then install it.
My suggestions for first-time Linux user live/installable CDs, if you’re coming from the Windoze world are PCLinuxOS, Kubuntu, and of course Ubuntu (which has the Gnome desktop, a less Windoze-like experience).
Check out the links to live CD distros at http://distrowatch.com.
Fun Home is one of the best (if not the best) graphic novels EVER – forget year or decade or what have you. The only bias is one that would keep it OFF the list. And it’s universal – not a manifesto of identity politics. Sheesh.
To “man -up”…..what’s the definition?
If we say it to a man, does it mean, “be mature” or “own up to your responsibilities” or “own up to your actions?
That’s why we don’t generally say, “woman-up” cuz we already do these things naturally.
Saying that, I’m ready for the controversial fall-out.
Mannnnnn, put that in your pipe and smoke it!
I’m thinking “man up” evolved from “take it like a man.” To me, this means suppressing your feelings by withdrawing, drowning them in alcohol, losing yourself in golf, or otherwise ignoring reality until you start hitting women, shooting people, or shooting yourself.
Maybe we could use “womb up.”
There is a nebulous, Anglo-Saxon, Western European concept of middle-class machismo which I’ve never quite been able to achieve. All men instantly know when a man doesn’t live up to this indefinable standard – they can’t tell you what it is, but they know when you’re not it. That’s about as eloquent as I can be about manning up.
My reaction to the FH recognition in the Entertainment Weekly list was exactly the opposite of your mother’s, AB. I rejoiced at how matter-of-fact it was: that the book is obviously necessary for *any* culturally literate person who wants to pay attention to the great things of the last decade. It was not set apart in a separate gay-themed box or with some other sort of asterisk…it was just part of the list of great things.
As it should be.
hey, alison, that’s terrific. and tell your mom that you have got many, many heterosexual admirers. {i remember that hilarious upload when you first started the blog and your mom left you a message on your voice mail about entertainment weekly…}
i confess to using “man up” quite often. i work with boys with special needs and am always setting up physically challenging activities that are just slightly too difficult for their skill levels. anyone who refuses to even try is ordered to man up, dude. it’s amazingly effective.
I was traveling last week, and spent some time with an old girlfriend. She was nice enough to take me to a comics store for my Wednesday fix (for the uninitiated, comic book distribution in the US is a monopoly, and the new books come out on Wednesdays).
There was a copy of Fun Home on the shelves, so I bought it for her. Two chapters in, and she’s loving it!
your book was so beautifully written, compellingly drawn, and heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time, it’s only strange that it’s not closer to the top of these lists. your work is so meaningful. your comics catalogue a community that is very dear to my heart, and your book catalogues a life that we can all relate to even while it surprises and challenges us.
i know my prose is purple, but yours isn’t, and that’s yet another reason to love your book. just sit back and drink it in — you deserve acclaim, and might as well make some more money while you’re at it!
xoxo
You also made it on Jezebel.com writer’s list as well:
http://jezebel.com/5425545/8-awesome-books-by-women-an-00s-virtual-bookshelf
” To man up”
Alan Bennett says, ” Take it like a man, which of course means take it like a woman.”
I get the “great delight” part and not the “slight bewilderment.” It’s an extraordinary book/graphic memoir. You have set a high bar, Alison. Like your second album (that’s record album for those unfamiliar), the critics are going to have highly attuned ears. (Not to set your jaw grinding or nothin’!). Kudos to a terrific artist, writer, and creator. Mazel tov!
ps Maggie – so glad you’re back, girl. BUT: “gender is irrelevant to decent human behavior. so is race, but we at least pay lip service to that one and understand that language choice actually wires and rewires our brains.” I hope we’re not saying racism is more acknowledged/addressed than sexism, cuz I poke holes in that one, dear. If we’re payin’ lip service to racism, so as with sexism. Rise and fall together, comrades. Rise and fall together.
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was to leave the judging of my work to others and stop fretting.
Yeah Ali girl…
good thing you went there…
adding a suggestion that we have a discussion about that particular turn of phrase…
Man up indeed Bechdel, you naughty thing!
Holly, isn’t there something you can do about that insolence?
But, you should really, man up, take credit where credit is due…
you rock,
your book rocks
and we want more
and more and more…
give it up…
GIVE IT UP ALISON!
give us some Bechdel…
give it to us,
now,
we want it,
we really really do,
oooooohhh, baybee,
more and more…
uh oh,
whoopsie…
Can y’all surmise that Aunt Soozie has been happy lately? She’s all distracted.
Well, what I really wanted to share was this… yes, Fun Home deserves the recognition.
(was that a bit easier to hear? Fun Home deserves it, you were only the conduit through which Fun Home was birthed out into the world. Better, right? Easier to do with the Dykes of DTWOF… who could truly seem to have a life of their own… but, you could go there with Fun Home as well… step back… then take it in more fully, the praise…)
So, yeah, Fun Home is an amazing work and should be on those lists and it ain’t about no homos lurking about… though homos lurking about is always fun too… and I am thrilled that you used the phrase “man up”. If you guys (and by guys I mean everyone reading this blog no matter the shape of their private parts or how they identify themselves because I can label you with a broad ol’ brush and be self righteous about it without regard for you at all) don’t jump on that man up talk I’m tempted to bring up friggin Michigan again.
I don’t know dear blog readers… is she baiting us to get us off course? Stop us from talking about how it’s nearly Solstice and we don’t know what our friends are up to in DTWOF land? I’m not sure… but in any event, I still love her work. That’s all. Aunt Soozie signing back out.
Ellen O, 33, the kind of stoicism you describe is not nearly as prominent in the normative image of manhood as it once was. It’s not at all uncommon to see grown men crying on tv over having lost (or won) a game. There’s also a lot of screaming, dancing, and celebration. And remember that rage is a feeling. Trying to say why this has happened and to what extent it’s a good thing would take us far afield, but as a matter of fact stoicism no longer is the central, unchallenged value it was forty years ago.
I would definitely agree with Fun Home deserving a place on those lists.
Schizo #4, Epileptic, and Asterios Polyp are the only other recent comics in memory that left my mind exhausted and reeling as much as Fun Home did (in very different ways, obviously).
It’s such a fantastic book. Thank you for making it.
Yay Soozie!
You’re making these lists because your book is fantastic, pure and simple. I would not have already read it 5 times if it wasn’t!
Also, at beauty school, we became fond of the phrase “woman up” as a way of saying “get tough and make it through this”. This was largely brought into popularity by a pregnant classmate who pointed out how much tougher women have to be to do things like have a baby.
Andrew, that’s good to hear (45) Although I think it’s funny that your example is about emotions over sports, which seem highly contrived and safe to be emotional about because they really have so little to do with actual life (unless you participate in them.)
But perhaps it’s more a U.S. straight white man culture thing — not expressing feelings over the day to day disappointments, losses, and resentments. This is what bubbles up into hatred, revenge and violence. Or maybe it has nothing to do with expressing emotions and is all chemical.
I prefer “to egg up”. Egg it on up, folks!
Echoing everyone else re: “Fun Home” definitely deserves to be on all those lists.
Speaking of Alison popping up all over the web…
http://www.autostraddle.com/how-alison-bechdel-wrote-the-l-word-a-lesbian-stereotypes-crossover-24497/
How charmingly modest. Fun Home was made of win, as the kids say today.
Hi! I haven’t commented here often, but I’m a huge fan, and you’ve been popping up all over our site, Autostraddle, lately. I wrote the rather silly & simplistic, but kind of fun article here:
http://www.autostraddle.com/how-alison-bechdel-wrote-the-l-word-a-lesbian-stereotypes-crossover-24497/
There have been so many responses on my article singing your praises- I’m happy to know that our readers were already quite familiar with DTWOF, though some of them definitely have a lot of catching up to do!
And here’s another article we wrote recently with some fun home love:
http://www.autostraddle.com/lesbian-books-lady-gaga-lohan-2443/
I plan to do some “best of” graphic novel lists soon, so of course Fun Home will be showing up there as well.
We’ve got a lot of love for you over at Autostraddle & I am so happy to see Fun Home on so many decade’s best lists! It absolutely deserves the attention it gets, and more.
@anna – love that autostraddle link. same site put “fun home” on their list of 10 awesome books of the ’00s by queers.
I just read Fun Home and enjoyed it thoroughly. It’s not at all a book that only a certain group of readers can relate to, but rather a great book with universal appeal. Congrats on being on all the lists here. The AV Club list for comics is a lot better than the one I saw in Paste, which includes a lot of superhero junk. I still wish there were a list exclusively for alternative comics about real people’s stories. Comics like Fun Home are pure literature.
I’ve been reading DTWOF for lots of years, and checking this site intermittently for some time, and was glad that I never felt compelled to start a post with “I’m a straight male, but …. ”
but here we are. I am indeed a straight male (married, kids, middle-aged, the whole deal) and none of that stopped me from devouring Fun Home, loving it, buying copies to give to friends, etc. it certainly was one of the best books I read in the last decade.
just so you know that you have admirers with all sorts of bizarre lifestyles.