The illusion of reality in Emil Ferris’ graphic novel My Favorite Thing Is Monsters (2017)
ISSN: 1697-459X
Year of publication: 2020
Issue: 18
Pages: 239-250
Type: Article
More publications in: Revista Latente: Revista de Historia y Estética del Audiovisual
Abstract
By applying the concept of the illusion of reality as studied by postmodernist theorists such as Linda Hutcheon, Alison Lee and Brain McHale, this article analyses how Emil Ferris’ My Favorite Thing Is Monsters (2017) creates and destroys an impression of existing at the reader’s level of reality. For this purpose, it has been explored how the novel uses both internal and external elements to gain authenticity. This includes inherent aspects to the narration such as style and the diary format, but also the insertion of a secondary plot that creates its own illusion of reality and the incorporation of elements from the reader’s realm that contribute to the recreation of the real world inside the fiction.
Bibliographic References
- Constenla, T. (2018, May 24): «Mis amigos son monstruos», El País. Retrieved from https://elpais.com/.
- Ferris, E. (2017): My favorite thing is monsters. Seattle, WA, Fantagraphics Books.
- Foucault, M. (1977): «Nietzsche, Genealogy, History», in D.F. Bouchard (ed.): Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews (pp. 139-164), Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press.
- Hutcheon, L. (1988): A poetics of postmodernism, London, Routledge.
- Jennings, D. (2017, February 17): «First, Emile Ferris was paralyzed. Then her book got lost at sea». The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/.
- Lee, A. (1990): Realism and power: Postmodern British fiction, London, Routledge.
- McHale, B. (1987): Postmodernist fiction, London, Routledge.
- SmallPressExpo (2017, October 1): SPX 2017 Panel-Emil Ferris: My Favorite Thing is Monsters [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL7LMFR5Kvw.
- Thielman, S. (Interviewer) & Ferris, E. (Interviewee). (2017): Emil Ferris: ‘I didn’t want to be a woman-being a monster was the best solution. [Interview transcript]. Retrieved from The Guardian online newspaper https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/20/emil-ferrismy-favorite-thing-is-monsters-graphic-novel.
- Umile, D. (2017, January 18): «Creatures invade 1960s Chicago», in My Favourite Thing Is Monsters. Chicago Reader. Retrieved from https://www.chicagoreader.com/.
- Vine, C.N. (2009): Psychology under the Third Reich. Retrieved from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (URN E-project-102609-144251).
- Waugh, P. (1984): Metafiction: The theory and practice of self-conscious fiction, London, Routledge.