New article in Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics features ‘But I Live’
Academics Amrita Das and Debapriya Basu have recently published an article entitled “Dwelling in grief: the traumarchitecture of But I Live (2022)” in the online Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, on August 18, 2026. The article examines the SCVN graphic narrative But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust, and is outlined in the abstract as:
“This essay examines how the authorial/editorial team bends and stretches the conventions of the graphic novel and the materiality of the comics page to evoke the silences and stutters that accompany such testimonies. It reads the visual strategies deployed by the artists/illustrators (such as the presence or absence of demarcated panels and their overall arrangement, choice of colour palette, and the stylistic aesthetics referenced) as architectural elements that draw the blueprint of what we propose to call the ‘traumarchitecture’ of the narrative. Invoking conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) and Thierry Groensteen’s formulation of spatio topia, this essay argues that studying the traumarchitecture of But I Live leads us to a deeper understanding of what it may mean to make art after Auschwitz.”
As part of exploring traumatic space in But I Live, the authors argue it unfolds on two fronts: 1) the exploration of the body as the site of trauma and 2) the comics page as the cartographic representation of the traumatic space, and that “…graphic artists, here, as Schallié herself puts it, ‘are actively co-creating the history with the survivors’ (Citation2022, 179).”
The article deeply reflects on the artistic approaches in each graphic narrative, from the choice of colour, use of grids, and representation of trauma in the body, with their conclusion outlining:
“While the testimonies offer a glimpse into each survivor’s childhood suffering and the abiding sorrow that is its lifelong burden, we also witness how they spill trauma across the pages…lead[ing] us towards a deeper understanding of what it may mean to make art after Auschwitz.”
Throughout the article the authors incorporate images from the book. This page from the book is shown with the caption “Emmie’s past spills over into the present (99),” for example.
The platform Taylor and Francis Online is not an open access site but the article may be accessed through an institution like the University of Victoria Library. To read the article please follow this link:
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VYEVK4XBK2T5CHYGUYTC/full?target=10.1080/21504857.2026.2715395
Amrita Das is a Research Scholar and Debapriya Basu is an Assistant Professor both in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, India.
Das, A., & Basu, D. (2026). Dwelling in grief: the traumarchitecture of But I Live (2022). Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2026.2715395