ABSTRACT

In his study of graphic memoirs, Andrew Kunka discusses some of the problems of classifying autobiographical comics because the genre includes text and drawn images. He argues that ‘representing events in comics form seem more overtly subjective because stylistic representations are so clearly idiosyncratic to the artist involved’ (60). In this paper, I look at two comics artists who use very different styles to represent their subjective experiences of belonging and non-belonging as Asians in the North American diaspora. In the narratives of Victoria Ying and Emmanuelle Chateauneuf, typical immigrant issues, such as exclusion, isolation, and the desire for social acceptance, are represented in light, humorous, and cartoonish ways. Even though their styles are reminiscent of children’s book illustrations, their narratives raise some important and serious, at times disquieting, issues including racism, anti-Asian hate, microaggressions, and discrimination. Their comics are not strict memoirs, but they create an illusion of authenticity through the use of particular objects or colours, shifts from the real to fantasy, and through the focalization on the female narrator.

摘要

在他对图形回忆录的研究中，安德鲁昆卡讨论了自传体漫画分类的一些问题，因为这种类型包括文本和绘制的图像。他认为“以漫画形式表现事件似乎更加主观，因为风格表现对于所涉及的艺术家来说显然是特殊的”（60）。在这篇论文中，我关注了两位漫画家，他们使用截然不同的风格来表现他们作为散居在北美的亚洲人的主观体验。在 Victoria Ying 和 Emmanuelle Chateauneuf 的叙述中，典型的移民问题，如排斥、孤立和对社会接纳的渴望，以轻松、幽默和卡通化的方式表现出来。尽管他们的风格让人想起儿童书籍插图，他们的叙述提出了一些重要而严肃的、有时令人不安的问题，包括种族主义、反亚裔仇恨、微侵犯和歧视。他们的漫画并不是严格意义上的回忆录，但他们通过使用特定的物体或颜色、从真实到幻想的转变，以及通过对女性叙述者的关注，创造了一种真实的幻觉。