{"id":50209,"date":"2016-11-25T15:30:49","date_gmt":"2016-11-25T15:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=50209"},"modified":"2017-02-27T00:21:13","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T00:21:13","slug":"a-konversation-with-george-herrimans-biographer-michael-tisserand-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=50209","title":{"rendered":"A \u201cKonversation\u201d with George Herriman\u2019s Biographer, Michael Tisserand (Part One)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u201cKonversation\u201d with George Herriman\u2019s Biographer, Michael Tisserand (Part One)<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The Comics Journal<\/a>
\n2016-11-14<\/p>\n

Paul Tumey<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\nMichael Tisserand<\/a> in Krazy Kat<\/em><\/a> territory (Photo credit: Cecilia Tisserand)<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u201cHerriman<\/a> was talking about race and identity \u2014 as profoundly as anyone has, in my opinion \u2014 but I never see that as his big \u201cTopic.\u201d It was just part of his world, and the world he created, even if others were slow to recognize it.\u201d<\/em> \u2014Michael Tisserand<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The first time I saw Michael Tisserand<\/a>, he was walking up my doorstep, holding what appeared to be a red brick by his head, almost \u2014 but not quite\u2013 in a throwing pose. Turns out the red brick was the recently released Library of American Comics collection of Krazy Kat<\/em> dailies<\/a> for which he wrote the introduction, and it was a gift (aren\u2019t all bricks gifts in [George] Herriman\u2019s<\/a> world?).<\/p>\n

In early December 2016, HarperCollins<\/a> will release Tisserand\u2019s long-awaited book, Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White<\/em><\/a>. The book, over 500 pages in length, offers the first detailed biography of the man many regard as the greatest cartoonist of the twentieth century. Chris Ware<\/a> has spoken highly of the book, observing: \u201cMichael Tisserand\u2019s Krazy<\/em> draws back the curtain on the one [Herriman] who\u2019s been with us all along.\u201d The book has drawn an early favorable review from Kirkus<\/em><\/a> which states, in part: \u201cEssential reading for comics fans and history buffs, Krazy<\/em> is a roaring success, providing an indispensable new perspective on turn-of-the-century America.\u201d…<\/p>\n

…Paul Tumey<\/strong>: Having that perspective from reading your biography on Herriman\u2019s life massively expanded my understanding and appreciation of his work. I have to admit, I was a bit daunted at first when I realized there was a chunk of early family history to read before our man comes onto the scene. But you know what? After a page or two of pouty grumbling, I was totally captivated \u2013 the stories are great, and you did a nice job of telling them. And later, I realized how valuable that perspective is \u2013 it\u2019s the foundation for understanding the deepest levels of Herriman\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Michael Tisserand<\/strong>: When I learned more about his family, I understood a bit more not just the pressures he must have felt in passing for white<\/a>, but also the strange, unsettling feeling it must have been to identify with a group of people historically known as Free People of Color<\/a>, or Mulatto<\/a>, or Creoles<\/a> \u2026 a group that constantly was seeing its very identity being changed legally and linguistically and culturally. And then for Herriman to work in a genre so deeply influenced by the masks of minstrelsy! When I read a classic Krazy Kat<\/em><\/a> line such as \u201clenguage is that we may mis-unda-stend each udda,\u201d it seems pretty clear that Herriman had a deep understanding of what we now consider to be modern notions of the slipperiness of language and a sort of permeability of identity….<\/p>\n

Read the entire interview here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first time I saw Michael Tisserand, he was walking up my doorstep, holding what appeared to be a red brick by his head, almost \u2014 but not quite\u2013 in a throwing pose. Turns out the red brick was the recently released Library of American Comics collection of “Krazy Kat” dailies for which he wrote the introduction, and it was a gift (aren\u2019t all bricks gifts in [George] Herriman\u2019s world?).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1245,13743,1196,8,6462,20],"tags":[25526,9929,9930,25524,25527,25525],"class_list":["post-50209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-biography","category-interviews","category-literary-criticism","category-media-archive","category-passing-2","category-usa","tag-comics-journal","tag-george-herriman","tag-krazy-kat","tag-michael-tisserand","tag-paul-tumey","tag-the-comics-journal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50209"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51905,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50209\/revisions\/51905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}