A Journey through Breast Cancer

Exploring the Body in Process in Isabel Franc and Susanna Martín’s Graphic Breast Cancer Narrative

Bibliographic Data

ID12648674
AuthorsDiana Aramburu (University of California, Davis, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume16
Issue3
Pages397-412
Publication date2018-10-04
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueLife Writing (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1448-4528 • E-ISSN: 1751-2964
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14484528.2018.1522231
OpenAlexW2895207826
LanguageEN
References cited7

Focusing on Isabel Franc and Susanna Martín’s Alicia en un mundo real (2010), this article will explore the representation and the visibility of the cancerous body in the graphic form. Based on Franc’s experience, the graphic novel takes the form of a fictional breast cancer memoir as it documents the story of Alicia, a journalist in her mid-fifties, from the moment that she discovers the malignant lump. By emphasising how the patient experiences the different stages of breast cancer in this fictional life story, I argue that Franc and Martín rewrite the breast cancer narrative by presenting the sick body as a body in process, a body that is continually crossing boundaries—from the sick body to the convalescent, the cured, and even the reeroticized and lesbian body. What is more, the visibility of the body in process here is key as Franc and Martín transform the politics of visibility with respect to the sick body—first by making it visible, but then by providing its substitution or replacement with other bodies. I posit that Franc and Martín’s graphic novel is defiant in its presentation of the breast cancer patient’s story as survival and empowerment are the result of visibility, humour, and female solidarity

Art · Art history · Breast cancer · Cancer · Literature · Memoir · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · Visibility · Comics and Graphic Narratives · Digital Storytelling and Education · Law · Medicine

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub