La Jornada: Fante’s Hell, a story about failure with cinematic overtones

More than a graphic novel, Fante’s hell (Sexto Piso), illustrated by the monkey José Hernández, collaborator of The Dayand written by American screenwriter Frank Spotnitz, has cinematographic qualities that give life and depth to its characters, noted cartoonists Rafael Barajas, The Snooperand Rafael Pineda, Snuff.

During the presentation of the volume – which recreates the life of the writer John Fante (1909-1983) – at the Gandhi Mauricio Achar bookstore, in the south of Mexico City, Hernández said that it portrays “a very racist United States that represses Mexican and Italian migrants in a very savage way. We can see the Ku Klux Klan parading against Italian migrants and the Los Angeles police repressing Mexican migrants.”

Key episodes from the history of the 20th century and figures such as the writer William Faulkner, the actor and director Orson Welles, the filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and even Elizabeth Montgomery, protagonist of the series, also parade throughout its pages. Bewitched.

In his participation, The Snooper – also a cartoonist for this publishing house – recalled other works in which Hernández participated, such as September: Disaster zone and a trilogy dedicated to the revolutionary Ernesto That Guevara. He also stated that in this new work he managed to surpass himself, which shows that “he has all the capabilities to be an extraordinary graphic novelist.”

Before retiring to travel to Colombia, where he would serve as an electoral observer, Barajas highlighted that Hernández’s visual work completely enriched Spotnitz’s script, recognized for his participation in series such as The X-Files y The man in the castle. “The camera (the illustrations) is splendid, it has golden tones, sepia and platinum colors that evoke an old photograph. (…) There is a lot of visual culture, a very meticulous recreation of the era.”

“It makes the characters act”

Barajas considers that “the acting is very good. He makes the characters act. You understand what they are saying and they convey the drama. In reality, it is the work of a complete film director. It has good production, image and acting quality.”

The work, divided into two parts – the first narrated from the perspective of Fante, considered a precursor of “dirty realism”, and the second built from the memories of his wife, Joyce Smart – required three years of work. During that period, the scriptwriter and the illustrator held virtual meetings every Monday to review and refine the progress of the project.

For his part, Rapé pointed out that entering into Fante’s hell “It’s exactly like watching a very well-set short film. Suddenly, I couldn’t help but hear the music of The godfather while reading the first scenes. (…) The narrative rigor (of Hernández) in knowing the model of the typewriter, the automobiles, the clothing, the furniture is a true feat. In this book, each scene is designed very rigorously; That seems like a brutal responsibility to me and very pleasing to the eye.”

For Hernández, this volume, which tells “the story of a famous stranger,” not only recovers his personal obsessions and attention to detail, but was also the result of a collaboration marked by perfectionism. During the three years of work he discovered that Frank was “worse” than him. “We could spend two or three sessions discussing which model of typewriter the character used at certain moments.”

At times, he explained, the script included anachronistic elements that needed to be corrected. “A series of absurd things that no reader was going to notice, but that we knew was a mistake and we couldn’t allow it to be included.”

Regarding the work, he reiterated – as this medium published last April – that the novel is not limited to listing the publications of the author of classics such as ask the dustbut rather it portrays a human being crossed by conflicts, contradictions and personal demons. He remembered Fante as the son of migrants, a victim of alcoholism and a man who accumulated failures, both professionally and personally.

Con Fante’s hell –a cult author, “very niche in the United States, Italy and France”–, Hernández hopes to contribute to the recognition of his legacy. “It is throwing the book into the sea so that it can find its readers. I am convinced that they will not be massive, but there will be people for whom this volume can open the way to getting to know it.”

Finally, Snuff He stated that this is not a comic about heroes, but a story about failure and the ability to overcome it, an experience in which many readers will be able to recognize themselves. “It seems to me that it is an honesty that identifies you. This hell identifies you. There are many of us who say ‘mothers, I had an alcoholic father’. Or ‘mothers, my mother had an alcoholic and abusive father, but she got ahead and managed to have some success in life’. That is the meaning of recognizing these types of biographies. They are very painful and one suddenly looks in the mirror.”