The Power of Graphic Narrative for Dementia Stories: Trauma, Aesthetics and Resilience in Sarah Leavitt�s Tangles (2012) and Dana Walrath�s Aliceheimer�s (2013)

This article has three aims: it first argues that the aesthetics of graphic novels, rarely considered in Humanities dementia research, are especially suited to narratives about traumatic dementia. Second, that, within narrative genre, both indirection and realism can facilitate representations. Third, each author uses 'corrects' well-meaning, idealising, images aimed at challenging negative stereotypes. In this study Sarah Leavitt's Tangles Dana Walrath's Aliceheimer's, I show benefits from a particular style call, for Tangles, 'abstract realism', Aliceheimer�s 'adapted' or 'fantastic' realism. Each opens up viewers trauma subject herself those caring her. Images move beyond stereotypes (while not idealising), furthering, via compassion, empathy resilience, our understanding condition so much part life today.