Reading Through 2021 75: Bezimena, by Nina Bunjevac

 Bezimena, by Nina Bunjevac

2019

Last month, I read Bujevac's Fatherland, and it was very good, if a heavy read. And that's okay. The world of comics needs heavy reads. Bezimena? Heavier!

This cover will either draw people in or push them away. It obviously "sexy", but not a very sexy kind of sexy 

Up front, I'll just say this book was doing and saying some things I didn't quite understand. And it was the kind of lack of understanding where I'm not sure if others would clearly get it and I was simply thick, or if it was poetic imagery which isn't supposed to be concretely interpreted. It doesn't hurt my appreciation of the book, but I'm sure some people are taking things from this book that I didn't on first read. That's the level of book this is. The story is not a simple problem to solve.

There is a layer of myth over the book

The main story I understood just fine: Benny, an upper middle class boy in the 1930's or so, has sexual issues. As a boy, he can't stop touching himself, and as a man, he is barely employed because he's not okay.

From an early age, Benny can't keep his hands off of himself, regardless of the consequences

This is the story of a sexual predator, told from the point of view of the predator, and a somewhat sympathetic one. Bunjevac is in no way approving of the behavior, but portrays Benny as someone not in control of their faculties. He's not malicious in his behavior.

This is what Benny sees

Most of the book is this, Benny's story. It's explicit and uncomfortable, and much of it I can't post pictures of without making this blog more adult than I would like it to be. But this is a book that goes to places most comics cannot.  Sometimes the sexual images are beautiful: Benny is compelled by lust, and obviously on some level he is tempted by beauty and pleasure. But the images are also grotesque and cruel. Benny is hurting women. 

The ugly is rendered equal to the beautiful

Bunjevac draws all images equally dispassionately. That's probably what's most notable about this book: the simple, the complex, the beautiful and the ugly are are rendered with the same intricate, mechanical distance. Bunjevac is putting her heart in all of this, but never changes her tone. 

A typical two page spread

The book is almost entirely built on a single rhythm, a black left side page with a text balloon or two, and a full page image on the right side.

A close up of that last page. An unbelievable amount of time has been spent on each page

In some ways, this book is only borderline a comic, as it used almost no panels, and no word balloons in the pictures. It could be considered an illustrated book. Still, it breaks that convention in places, and is telling a story through word balloons, so it's comic enough. I could understand if someone wanted to classify it as "not a comic" though.

One of the few examples of "comic" work in the book

The book uses framing of am ancient priestess showing a woman Benny's life, and in the story Benny has dreams of himself as a stag, and these parts I couldn't quite wrap my head around. The book cover describes allusions to the myth of Artemis, and I'll trust it. I read it once, and I think this is a book to read twice or more to get its full meaning. It's a large book, but at one image per two page spread, it's a fairly brisk read. Only the distressing content keeps me from going back to it soon.

A hauntingly beautiful image

Bunjevac writes an afterword piece about a near-rape experience she had as a teen which informed the book. That was an experience which altered the way she saw the world. She's not using rape as a plot device or source of pain as has been seen in comics, she's grappling with how men who don't want to think of themselves as bad could still do such a horrible thing. It's a hard idea to confront.