Approximate author-ity: self-crafting "Le Bec" and other Trondheimian masks

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Cointot, C. ORCID: 0000-0001-7767-1193, 2018. Approximate author-ity: self-crafting "Le Bec" and other Trondheimian masks. Image [&] Narrative, 19 (3). ISSN 1780-678X

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Abstract

Lewis Trondheim crafted an autobiographical avatar who appears to be stuck in a state of stasis. As I examine Trondheim's self-crafting into a protagonist and a character in a narrative, I argue that his mask's immutability paradoxically allows for an exploration of the changing nature of identity and the performative notion of authorship. Trondheim's enterprise is a self-imposed frame, which I propose to read as a technique of the self. In my examination of Trondheim's many masks, I show how Trondheim questions the process of identity formation through the careful elaboration both within and outside his works of his persona into a myth of the self. His variety of masks invites a reflection on the oscillation between a sense of recognition and de-familiarisation of the self. Trondheim enacts a care of the self via a self-writing which evokes a renunciation of the self only to renounce this via his comics production. This seems to embody perfectly a form of care of the self – based on parody–fitting to a contemporary moment in which the confessional has been recast as a form of affirmation of self-identity and validation.

Item Type:	Journal article
Description:	Special issue on Lewis Trondheim
Publication Title:	Image [&] Narrative
Creators:	Cointot, C.
Publisher:	Instituut voor Culturele Studies, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Date:	2018
Volume:	19
Number:	3
ISSN:	1780-678X
Divisions:	Schools > School of Arts and Humanities
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	13 Nov 2018 15:32
Last Modified:	13 Nov 2018 15:32
Related URLs:	Publisher
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/34948