Blancaflor: Nadja Spiegelman, daughter of Art Spiegelman reinvents (…) – ActuaBD

Blancaflor is a young girl who lives an almost ordinary existence with her parents and her two sisters… with one difference, her father is a cruel and terrible ogre, little inclined to dialogue.

When he learns that each of his three daughters dreams of marrying the prince whose portrait they saw in the newspaper, he goes into a rage. The ogre has chosen to push this fop (!) to come and take up three impossible challenges. His invitation is nothing but a Machiavellian plan, not to cede his kingdom to him but to devour him.

Having inherited magical powers notably from her father, Blancafor, very much in love with this prince who thinks he is the luckiest in the world, will do everything possible to thwart the traps imagined by his parent. Magic, witchcraft, humor and shift are on the menu of this funny tale.

The excessiveness and inventiveness of the graphics echo the earthiness of the story.

Taking up a well-known traditional story in Latin America, this album offers an original version of this story from the oral tradition. Through the character of Blancaflor, a young woman determined to fight to save the one she loves and find the means to oppose this tyrannical father, we are presented with a heroine that is a little out of the ordinary with respect to the laws of the genre. . The young woman will stop at nothing to counter this father, a terrible illustration of an obtuse and absolute patriarchy. Will this be enough to overcome violence and prejudice?

The interest of the recovery of what is at the origin, a popular tale lies above all in its feminist approach, breaking with the image and the clichés conveyed by this narrative genre. Far from being passive, Blancaflor does not hesitate to defy his father, question the established order, by resorting to spells. She will use rather feminine objects for this: a comb, a mirror… objects transmitted by the grandmother, also confirming the central role of the feminine gender in the story.

The author, Nadja Spiegelman finds through the audacious and ingenious character of Blancaflor a skilful way of situating this story from the angle of an assumed, benevolent and effective feminism. The author’s daughter Maus has already made up a first name from numerous publications aimed at young people, which have already won awards across the Atlantic.

His nuanced and humorous subject is served by the very modern and exceptional graphics of the designer Sergio Garcia Sanchez. Discovered a few years ago in particular with the three paths (published by Delcourt jeunesse) it once again demonstrates its ability to free itself from codes by means of exploded, highly dynamic layouts accompanied by graphic effects full of rhythms and invention.

Magic, humour, feelings and mischief come together in this sympathetic reinterpretation of an original and seductive heritage tale.

A great discovery for our young readers but… not only them!