“Spent” with Alison Bechdel

Come along on this deep dive into Alison Bechdel’s new autofictional comic novel Spent, that will give you everything from Edward Gorey Easter eggs to Harriet the Spy content. Alison teaches me things about myself (I’m a bottom-up thinker. Who knew!) and reflects on what Alison, the character, learns from finally meeting the much beloved Dykes to Watch Out For on the page. Whether you are a fan of goats, wood chopping, reality TV or Virginia Woolf – this episode has something for every kind of anti-capitalist dyke.  

References:
Alison Bechel’s The Secret to Superhuman Strength
Alison Bechel’s Fun Home
Alison Bechel’s Dykes to Watch Out For
Carmen Maria Machado
Karl Marx’s Das Kapital
The Guilty Feminist podcast
Queer Eye
Tidying Up with Marie Kondo
Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse
Nicole Coenen
Grant Wood’s American Gothic
Edward Gorey’s The Unstrung Harp
The Gashlycrumb Tinies T
his Queer Book Saved My Life
Jonathan Cape
Foyles
https://www.foyles.co.uk/events/cape-graphic-novels-mini-con
Anna Trench’s Florrie
Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy  

Questions you should be able to respond to:

1.      What are some of Alison Bechdel’s most well-known texts?
2.      How does Alison reflect on intergenerational queer community?
3.      In a lesbian version of Queer Eye, what would the five lesbians’ areas of expertise be?
4.      If you could fictionalise a detail of your life, what would you invent for yourself?