La creazione di un fumetto per la sociologia storica del suicidio in Québec

Vous avez détruit la beauté du monde (2020) is a graphic novel that emerged from a large-scale project in the historical sociology of suicide in Québec, based on the examination and digitization of nearly 18,000 coroner’s inquests (1765–1986). By approaching suicide as an “oblique” object of inquiry, the work stages archival research itself and translates ethically and visually sensitive documentary material into a hybrid narrative capable of bridging research and creative practice. Drawing on interviews with the co-authors and an analysis of the comics dispositif, the article identifies three key dynamics that shaped the construction of the album: (i) the combinability of narrative threads (the “classical” emplotment of cases alongside a mise en abyme of the researchers’ work), (ii) the balance between distance and proximity through strategies of mediation (the transposition of photographs, attention to details, and socio-historical framing), and (iii) the use of tension and counterpoints. Particular attention is paid to the reception of the work among different audiences, as well as to institutional and editorial constraints (funding, publishing choices, media mediation). In conclusion, the graphic novel is proposed as a research object situated between the arts and the social sciences: not merely a tool for dissemination, but a mode of knowledge production that mobilizes readers’ affectivity to make historical-social knowledge accessible, while foregrounding dignity, respect, and responsibility as guiding principles of representation.