Unterzakhn

I would definitely recommend this graphic novel. The illustrations were emotionally driven and engaging and story was refreshingly original. A rare treat.

Leela Corman liefert in ihrem neuen Graphic Novel eine einfühlsame und packende Darstellung der Zwillingsschwester Esther und Fanya, die als Kinder jüdischer Einwanderer aus Polen (und Russland) in Lower East Side, New York aufwachsen und die bitteren Lektionen des Lebens lernen.Esther arbeitet für eine Frau, die sowohl ein Burlesque-Theater ('Horse and Rider') als auch ein Bordell betreibt. Fanya unterstützt eine Geburtshelferin, die auch illegale Abtreibungen durchführt.Es gelingt Corman, das facettenreiche Umfeld der Familie um das Jahr 1910 ästhetisch glänzend darzulegen, wie zum Beispiel die grausamen Erfahrungen am Alltag die Weltanschauung der Kinder prägen. Die in Florida lebende New Yorkerin führt das soziale Milieu der beiden Schwester mit einprägsamen, monochromen, selbstsprechenden Bildern eindrücklich vors Auge, wobei die überwältigende Kälte der Strasse als Pädagogik zu wirken scheint.Das Bett mit vielseitiger Semantik steht irgendwie öfters im Mittelpunkt der Abhandlung, welches natürlich nicht nur dem Schlafen oder Ruhen dient, sondern der einzig sichere Ort zu sein scheint, wo die beiden Schwester ihre Träume und Erlebnisse mit Gebundenheit an Ängste und Zwänge austauschen, bevor sie einschlafen. Im Übrigen bedeutet Unterzakhn (yiddish) Unterwäsche.Die imposante Veranschaulichung der Handlungen und die schmerzhaften Entscheidungen der Zwillingsschwestern mit tragischen Folgen erinnert an die einschneidenden Werke von Art Spiegelman. Ein fesselndes Buch, das man nicht aus der Hand lassen kann. Es ist unmöglich, die Art und Weise, wie Corman diese rührselige Geschichte erzählt, nicht zu mögen.

Leela Corman's graphic Novel , Unterzakhn is almost all that. The drawings are bold, making no compromises in the name of conventional modesty or modern notions of beauty. Twin Jewish girls grow up poor in 1910 New York and live parallel but not such different lives. The story is not one of an emigrant family making good but of half educated people surviving and attempting to make sense of an arbitrary world. Depending on when this book comes into your life it will have enormous power or just seem like "another one".The word Unterzakhn is Yiddish for underclothes. This is what the demanding and inflexible mother of twins girls Fanya and Ester makes to keep her family from complete poverty. What their soulful and unhappy father does is almost unimportant. The world of the two girls is hard. Death and cruelty are more common than joy or compassion. Only one will receive any education and the other will, because of her artistic bent will become a prostitute, dancer, and star.Irregular use of flashback will help the reader to understand that this family has survived generations of bigotry and bare survival and that the arranged marriage of the girl's parents is not the Fiddler on the Roof variety.There is too much about all of this that I have seen before. The story arc is too nearly predictable. If you come to this book before reading the story of failed immigrants, or the European stories of among others Isaac Bashevis Singer (his original Tevya stories are hardly all humor and happiness) then this can be a very important book. An experienced reader will believe they have felt the particular hardships by women of this class and time. This is a very good book, for me it was not 5 stars.

This work is a peek into the artistic imagination and story rich mind of the author in a very specific historical and ethnic context. Startling and utterly original.

I have a read a lot of graphic novels and this is far and away among the best. The story-telling and visual style are reminiscent of Persepolis (which I loved madly) but in addition to the difference of being fiction (albeit historical), is that the illustrations in Unterzakhn are incredibly evocative even while seeming quite simple. Similarly the story has many layers of meaning which you will find if you look. I highly recommend this for any fan of graphic novels, Jewish American or immigrant history, and especially those with an interest in how women use and control their bodies.