Looking on the Dark and Bright Side: Creative Metaphors of Depression in Two Graphic Memoirs

Abstract

When people speak or write about their experience of depression, a small number of metaphors often dominate their accounts. This article uses two graphic memoirs to show how comics artists may creatively transform such entrenched metaphors by drawing on the sociocultural conventions and formal properties of the medium.

Notes

1. Throughout this article, I will refer to the author/artist, narrator, and protagonist of Psychiatric Tales by their shared surname, Cunningham. In the case of Depresso, I will use John Stuart Clark's alias, Brick, when discussing the author|artist or the (semi-)autobiographical narrator, and Tom (Freeman) to indicate the protagonist. However, this should not obscure the complexity of the relationships in life writing between author, narrator, and protagonist, including the important distinctions between them. For a detailed discussion of these issues generally, see Lejeune and, more specifically in relation to graphic memoirs, El Refaie (Autobiographical Comics) and Maaheen.

2. For a contrasting view, see Cameron.