Comics Memory by Unknown
Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783319917467
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Conclusion
For the most part, Rancourtâs graphic narratives seem so devoid of commentary that most reviewers have called her naive, her drawings âsimple,â and her work âunpretentious, honest and realâ (Jacq the Stripper 2015). However, a couple of stories reveal that there are different temporalities and shifting perspectives between the actions in the stories and the telling of the narrative, showing that there is more art and deliberation than reviewers have given Rancourt credit for. It is only from hindsight that Rancourt is able to make sense of some of the incidents that happened in her youth, especially those scenes with her husband Nick, who often lies to her and betrays her. It is through the narrativization of these episodic memories that her life story is formed. Rancourtâs account of their domestic relationship is not simply an account of what happened, but is what Astrid Erll calls a âretrospective constructionâ (Erll 2011, 55) which requires information, likely from others, that the protagonist did not possess at the time of the incident.
One good example of this retrospective construction occurs in the chapter âMelody and the Policeâ where Nick steals Melodyâs savings hidden in her shoes in their bedroom in order to keep gambling. Later that night, the police come to check on Melody and search their place. When Melody discovers her money missing, she assumes that it was the police who stole it and Nick lets her believe that, thinking, that it was lucky, because he âwonât have to pay her back nowâ (Rancourt 2015, 132). He also lets her take the blame for possession of drugs even though the drugs were his. These incidents, which reveal Nickâs dishonest and opportunistic character, are presented from both Melodyâs and Nickâs points of view which she would not have had access to at the time. Thought bubbles reveal Nickâs deceitful behavior. The scenes show the way episodes and experiences gain meaning through retrospective reflection and narrative emplotment. Nick becomes the villain of the tale as she writes her comics. He is a lazy man willing to live off his wifeâs hard work and save his own skin, while she is the naïve victim. In the reenactment of her memory through comics, Rancourt imposes the frame of a novel to her story, evaluating her past through conscious reconstruction and storytelling.
Interestingly, in a more recent interview, Rancourt changes her attitude somewhat, and says of her life, that she was once a lost girl, but is now found, âjâétais une fille perdue, maintenant retrouvéeâ (Rancourt 2013). The biblical allusion to the prodigal sonâs story, however cliché, adds a moralistic tone that is not present in her graphic narrative. She remembers her younger life as a wasteful and extravagant affair. The tone is one of regret, for her youth, and perhaps for time spent with her first husband, Nick, who she says was an alcoholic. Although she says that she assumes the consequences for her actions, she does feel shame and does not want the graphic narrative to be sold in her village because she now has young children with her second husband.
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