Jan Baetens

Autobiographies and comics

It is indisputable that the French comic strip has known for some ten years
a "mode" autobiographical 1 . Although the phenomenon is far from
France magnitude which is his graphic novel WADA Rican, this wave
Affects enough authors, works, collections, even houses
For it to be considered a
Contemporary comic books. In itself, it might suffice to note this:
After shipping her heroes to Mars or after using up the ropes
Of the novel of adventure for the youth, the comic strikes
Today to put on the scene the lives of those and, more rarely,
Do it.
This evolution is hardly surprising. The Autobiographical Fate of the Band
This pattern reflects a more general tendency to the autobiographical pra-
Seems typical of our postmodern culture and contemporary art in general.
In fact, both are increasingly autobiographical,
Place the "position", physical as well as ideological, of
those who speak 2 . Just when, at like great Result cits, the subject
traditional is rejected, the small Result cit autobiographical subject becomes
Omnipresent ... The cartoon autobiography does not therefore occur in a
Empty (and especially not in an ideological vacuum). It is in a period
Haunted by the cult of authenticity or, more exactly (and the nuance is capital),
Of refusal of inauthenticity. 3
As an introduction to the various questions that seem to raise the
Cartoon autobiography, it may be useful to gather in a very
Concretes the great stereotypes that are currently gravitating around this
phenomenon.

Without pretending to completeness, we could enhance the following five

elements:

1. The emergence of an autobiographical vein in comics is the

Symptom, if not the proof of an adult becoming of the genus; this
Evidence is all the more conclusive that, as has been pointed out, it
Fascination of contemporary art in general for all
Body of the artist and the public;

2. An autobiographical comic strip is a comic strip

Literary "or an" author "comic (the author is
Defined by its ability to develop a "writing", by analogy
That we saw happen to the cinema in the fifties; In cartoon,
We call such an artist, who combines the functions of writer and
designer, "complete author 4 ); The mixed character of the
An industrial comic strip, where a film-maker and a draftsman
Collaborate as best we could, had prevented the introduction of such an author
Complete: the autobiographical vein is, from this point of view, a cause
As much as a consequence of the aspiration of the modern comic strip

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Wanting to have full authors;

3. the word autobiography is a gauge of authenticity, that is, of refusal

Of the facticity and, more generally, of fiction (which one knows
Which she took in the traditional cartoon of the paces
Rapidly strong exotic); Here again, the comic book
Autobiographical is fully of his time;

4. An autobiographical cartoon is deemed bad if it does not serve

To relay the narcissism of its creator posed as heroes, and
When she tells of the life of an antihero, of a "loser" (our
Postmodern culture is also a culture of victimization, and we
Have become allergic to the stink of the heroes of yesteryear and above all
Their glory); Luckily the autobiographies in comics
Almost without exception of the second category, so that the
Valuation of the autobiographical tendency is practically
Automatic mode;

5. Finally, a little more is granted to autobiographies that cheat a little

And who manage to slip in despite all small or large doses of
fictionnalit (autofiction has imposed e, for reasons that no
Place to judge here, as a brand image, that is, in
The occurrence, as a literary image).
All this, if one reflects on it, does not fail to leave pensive. In this
Perceived given, the contradictions are indeed not uncommon. What to think about
Example of the widely held idea that autobiography would
Comic book to become more literary, where the literary theory tends to
More to be seen in the common autobiography, that is, made by the "people of
little "a Strata gie to fight cons mmes the preconceptions of the literal
erasure 5 ? And
Of the surprising conjunction between the
Autofiction and the corollary degradation of fiction or between the requirement
Authenticity and acceptance of all sorts of aesthetic subterfuges?
One can understand it enough: these contradictions are symptomatic, in this case of
a
A somewhat unhealthy mix between the descriptive and the evaluative. For this
reason, the
View of the comic book autobiography that I would like to develop here
Wishes not to widen the question of the intrinsic interest or value of
This new trend. I believe that the valorisation of the phenomenon
Much to its novelty. Our culture, with its "superstition of the new"
(Borges), pushes us to put forward the nine for the nine, despite all the
Theoretical impasses that this generates. As, moreover, the emergence of the band
An autobiographical drawing coincided with a moment when the band stood out
Drawn from the 70s and 80s, which had aged with those who
with those who read 6 , It is quite normal to see in the autobiography a
A salutary break with a cartoon comfortably nostalgic and
Gently cut off from the real world. Today, however, the
Surprise dissipated, it is time to raise any other problems. In this
Follows, I will address three: first the question of the narrator (which pushes to
rethink
The autobiography in the light of the comic strip), then the question of the
Specificity of the media (which leads to new questions about the tape

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Drawn in the light of autobiographical practices), finally the question of
The existence of autobiographs without autobiography.

From cartoon to autobiography ...

At a very general level, one may wonder, for example, whether
Cartoon autobiography helps to rethink the issue of autobiography
Herself. A quick overview of the recent theoretical work in this field
Two essential points, which affect not only the definition, but also
Especially the stakes of autobiography.
The first point is that the narratological structure of its kind. East
Autobiographical work, any work in which the three instances of the author,
Narrator and character. The second point is that the reading contract offered
By the autobiographer, who undertakes not to cheat, for example by speaking
Someone else in his place or by preferring the mirages of literature to
Rigors of truth. One and the other of these points, which together constitute the
base
Of modern studies of autobiography, have certainly been much
Nuances, but their overall validity remains undisputed. Autofiction, for example,
which
Gently detract from the demands of the traditional autobiographical pact
As it sometimes violates the rule of the unfailing identity of the three instances
Autobiographical, does not in the negative way: it is in the name of a truth
Of the subject, which only fiction could guarantee, that autofiction is
The games of invention, style, in a word literature.
Today, this autobiographical system, rules and exceptions combined,
Seems self-evident. But in comics, it seems to me that many evidences
Come into contact with the realities of the media.
We must concentrate here, not on the question of autofiction (on this
Comic does not bring anything very new compared to the literature
Existing autofiction), but on the otherwise more intriguing question of
The identity of the instances (author, narrator, character). Indeed, how
In the comic strip of the intermediary instance of the narrator, who
Here inevitably falls into two types? For beside the verbal or
Narrator in the classical sense of the term, it is possible to postulate also the
existence
a graphic whistleblower, which was proposed to appoint "
graphiateur" 7 . In
A mixed media such as the comic strip, where the role of dramatist and
Draftsman are often split, the duplicity of the narrative function is lacking
Not to cause very special situations in autobiographical regime. We
Can thus wonder by is possible to entrust an autobiographical narrative
Narrated by a writer-scribe to someone else who draws it without the narrative
In question ceases to be fully autobiographical, without it losing
Authenticity?
At first glance, and even if there are examples of an autobiographical approach
Associating several authors, such an idea seems a scandalous thing. She seems
Or free of charge insofar as the comic book itself offers the
Way of circumventing the difficulty: is not it enough for the scribe to make
himself-
Draftsman or, for the draftsman, to become a dramatist (in practice it is
Especially the second possibility that is observed, but theoretically it is

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To consider both at the same time)? Autobiographical Comics
Which have multiplied in recent times, obey massively this model
Of unification of the two instances of the narrator and the graphiator. As the
Stereotyped above: the author of a comic book autobiography will be
"" Complete "or will not.
In reality, things are not that simple, for two reasons.
First, the hypothesis of the complete author relies a little too easily on
The idea, wrong in my opinion, that the complete author "writes as he draws" (or
vice versa)
Versa). Just think at Maus Spiegelman, where the narrative voice
Spiegelman is much more twisted than the more classical
Same name. All things considered, a comparable tension could
About the great autobiographical project of Neaud, whose
Evolves "otherwise" than the verbal narration through the four volumes already
published its Journal, the relative autonomy of drawing as compared to the writing
of the
Is one of the major challenges of this autobiography (for
"Complete", the author Fabrice Neaud is mostly a "complex" author,
That is to say plural).
Second, the unifying power of the complete author, often praised because he
Would put an end to the numerous cases of mechanical or
Between dramatist and draftsman, relieves a little quickly in the background the
wealth of
Possible links between text and picture in comic strip. Admittedly, autobiographies
Narrated and drawn by a complete author can have many effects
Distortion and irony between the visual and the verbal, but often they are
reabsorbed in
Attributing them to the presence of a supreme and definitively unifying body
named e "m ga-narrator 8 . However, the phenomena I am thinking
about here
Are more concerned with the inexorable differences of the two media than
Mixed media of the comics. The text always says something other than what
Shows the image and vice versa, even and especially when both verbal and
Visuals seek to illustrate themselves reciprocally as wisely and faithfully as
possible.
Therefore, require in the name of authenticity that the autobiography in comics
Or by defining the work of a single author, however complete and genial it may be,
My sense of doing violence to what the media may have of "non-reconciled"
Ambivalent, even paradoxical. Likewise, rejecting as inauthentic the
Collaboration between two different narrators, the first in charge of the narrative,
the second
Loaded with drawing, underestimates, I think, the possibilities of "fusion" that can
Occur during a successful collaboration. In short, that one must leave in the hands
Of a single person the performance of a comic book autobiography,
Be an idea a little too fixed. It is more stimulating, on the contrary, to
Autobiographical project to certain forms of "mixed" elaboration and to open
New possibilities to this step of the autobiography in comics. 9
As soon as this track is followed, the status of the autobiography is likely to
Change significantly. Indeed, the autobiographical dimension of the work could
Concern both the formal aspects and the narrative itself. At the
Might even consider something like a "formal autobiography or
stylistic "which retrace in terms of single design, independent spective of

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autobiographical content, the life of a credit ator. Also, the autobiography in
strip
Drawn is probably far from having explored all its possibilities. Again
Developments in this area would in any case show once
More than the contribution of the comic book to the autobiography is not purely
passive
Or repetitive.

... and vice versa

This question of the passivity or otherwise of a media provides an opportunity to
Any other problems. While it is true that the meeting of a media (the
Drawing) and a genre (autobiography) has a real impact on the way
To consider autobiography in general, it is imperative to take a step
And to ask whether the meeting in question does not invite
Rethinking reading as well as our practice of comics. It touches
The place that can be taken in the study of the comic book the notion of
"Me-diagenesis". 10
In such a perspective, the inclusion of a content in a media is not
Never in a neutral way. A media does not host content independently
Property of its material base, which in turn greatly influence the
Mediated content. Like it or not, an autobiography written can not be
Identical to an autobiographical oral, filmed, drawn, etc.
One thing is obviously to notice these differences, another is to
In a concrete way, the subtleties of this "me-diagenesis". The contribution of the
(And the autobiography, unlike the self-portrait, is undoubtedly a narrative),
Apparently obeys two antagonistic modes.
The first mode, which is generally regarded as "positive",
With the structuring power of a media, able to put order in a narrative
Always threatened by disorder, informs it, the excess. However, just as we
Have learned to mistrust the structuring effects of the very narrative, which has the
power
To impose on the content a series of characteristics (linearity, monologism,
l been ology, etc.) are today juga "artificial or RHA O 11 ,
We
Should learn to suspect even more the effects of structuring
Typically induced by each particular media. There is no reason not to
To question the "naturalness" of a media at the same time as that of the narrative
Begins to be denounced almost everywhere.
The second mode, generally perceived as "negative", sees the media as
obstacle. It has to do with the constraints that the implementation of a media
Can play with regard to what one wants to say when undertaking a
Autobiographical narrative. However, as well as the "positive" mode of the media
As a structuring force hides, more and more badly, aspects that are
All but innocent, and the "negative" mode of the media as a whole
Constraints exhibits, more and more strongly, the virtues of freedom and
Of emancipation. Again, it would be unfortunate if the comic book, which
today an explicit appeal and happy at the constraint 12 , Does not take advantage of
this
Movement at the moment when it also turns to autobiography.
How to link now, as concretely and precisely as possible,

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Constraint and autobiography in comics? Two major projects are
Here to the autobiographer. On the one hand, one can use the autobiographical
project and its
Problematic encounter with the media as a constraint. Since it is known that
Is not possible, nor reasonable, to "tell everything", it can be fascinating to try
To do so in spite of the many obstacles that stand in the way of
(And without being fooled by the result). Insofar as it
Adopts the form of the newspaper, which is a form more difficult than the form
Retrospective of the autobiography "a posteriori", the autobiographical
Neaud tackles such a problem head-on. It is the difficulty of
Such a project that explains the permanent tension and dynamics of its
job. On the other hand, it should also be possible to set up
Specific constraints, that is, appropriate to the media in which we work
But deducts from the autobiographical material that serves as a starting point. As
In the work of Georges Perec, for example, where certain key dates in the life of
The author creates a series of numerical constraints whose extension extends
beyond
far the only directly autobiographical passages 13 , The author of a tape
Could try to invent a way of "formal" translation of
"Autobiographies", even if the logic of autobiography must be
Of the work being done (for it goes without saying that an autobiography under
constraint
will exclude what does not correspond to Policies: that we give, while
may include what may be-has never spent at the life we
Way). Such a cartoon autobiography may not yet exist, even if
The implicit presence of this type of functioning is felt throughout
The work of a Chris Ware, for example. In any case, it seems to me that this
Re-orientation of cartoon autobiography would be able to re-energize
The genre and compensate some of the self-help facilities (which is
Maybe a stratagem strategy with the obstacles of autobiographical exercise
Without taking account of the possibilities of coercion).

The autobiograph without autobiography

It is appropriate here, in order not to conclude, to take up the subject a little
oblique. It is known that in the traditional comic strip, which in principle ignores
"Open" autobiographical dimension, the autobiographical charge is
Extremely strong. If we follow the analyzes of the Dutch psychologist Jaap van
Ginneken, the creators of Astrix, Babar, Donald, Tintin and Superman, all
Transposed into their work the most important identity problems and character
traits
Intimates that were theirs. 14 In short, these works are, without exception and a
To the other, autobiographical. The question is not to judge the relevance
Of this assumption. What is important is to see to what extent this reading
Autobiographical (which is in itself very traditional: it is the reading that
remembers
That Flaubert once wrote "Madame Bovary, it's me") is a
An interpretation capable of expanding or redefining the question of autobiography
in
Comic book. As I have tried to formulate it above, the restriction of
The autobiography to the question of the openly autobiographical testimony
Risk of leaving in the shadow of the exciting facets of the
Autobiographical, which it may be interesting to find at the level of the form
As at the level of fiction. For it is not necessary that a fiction is
Autofictional to belong to the movement of the autobiography: one "smells"
In many cases an autobiographical density that the author may put

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Voluntarily at a distance with the help of fiction (I think here the work of an Alex
Barbier, but it should be easy to multiply the examples); In the same way, it is
No doubt works that a particular stylistic treatment transforms into
been autobiographical testimony (the whiteness of Tintin in Tibet would be an
example
Paradigmatic of what I am trying to point out here).
In short, the autobiography, seen in this way, "overwhelms". If we accept this
Conclusion, a global re-reading of the corpus of the comic book becomes possible.
Notes
1
See the excellent record PRA Thierry Para Groensteen in the journal 9th
Art, No
1, 1996.
2
Even "virtual" electronic art on the Internet gives a preponderant
Body: cf. The shift of electronic art towards the performance diagnosed by
Peter Lunenfeld in Snap to Grid, Cambridge, Mass. MIT, 2002.
3
See the latest book by Geoffrey Hartman, Scars of the Spirit. The Struggle
Against inauthenticity, New York, MacMillan Palsgrave 2002.
4
According to the terminology and definition proposed by Benoit Peeters in his
book
Box, board, Result cit, Paris-Tournai, Casterman, 1991. It goes without saying
that other
Designs of the full author are possible, including inside practices
Semiotically "simple". As Fabrice Neaud pointed out to me during the
Discussion, both the draughtsmen and the scribes (or the persons in charge
Lettering or coloring of a comic book), tend to conceive
Their practice as that of a complete author, insofar as this work
Brings something specific and irreplaceable to the collective work.
5
See the revelers of Philippe Lejeune and the several teams on the floor
Autobiographical, which tend to move away from literature in the sense
Classic and ideologically overdefined term.
6
See Benoit Peeters, The comic e, Paris, Flammarion, coll. Dominos, 78-
82.
7
See Philippe Marion, boxes Traces, Louvain-la-Neuve, Acad mia, 1993. The
Debate on the multiplicity of narrative instances nested in the position of the
"Narrator" owes much to research on the issue of the narrator to the cinema,
Cf. Andr Gaudreault, From the literal rary film, Paris, Klinksieck, 1988.
8
View Andr Gaudreault, oc
9
The case of Dupuy-Berberian comes here immediately in mind, but this is a case

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