Transgender graphic memoirs: plurality and depathologizing dissociative identity disorder in Emma Grove’s The Third Person and LB Lee’s All in the Family

Emma Grove’s The Third Person (2022) and LB Lee’s All in the Family (2020) are trans graphic memoirs that depict the process of recovering repressed memories of traumatic events through drawing. The memoirs focus on Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) but deviate from the conventions of older DID memoirs such as having a psychiatrist as a focalizer and pathologizing plurality. Grove’s and Lee’s work also differs from mainstream trans life writing in that the focus of the narratives is not transition. The Third Person documents Grove’s process of sketching at top speed to piece together the memories of her different alters and retrieve the few months she spent in therapy attempting to qualify for medical transition. Lee’s memoir, structured as a murder mystery, traces the process of dealing with ‘headspace ghosts’ and the murder of one of their ‘headmates’. Comics allow Grove and Lee to depict their alters and to show their collaboration. In terms of representing trauma, graphic narratives take on the role of testimony and while Grove opts for a documentary and uniform style of depicting the therapist’s office, Lee switches between different art styles and utilises surreal elements to represent the objectification and gaslighting of abuse.