Longing and belonging: narratives by two Asian North American auto-graphic artists

Abstract

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.