Every Unhappy Family Is Funny in Its Own Way

By Susan Harris

As a lagniappe, we’re complementing our extract from Blutch’s That Was Happiness—in which a divorcing couple has The Talk with their young son—with a brief video of the artist discussing his book. With a plangent sax in the background, Blutch acknowledges the autobiographical impulse behind the book, cites influences including Jules Feiffer and William Steig, and remarks that, despite the subject matter, he intended the book to be not bleak, but amusing.  Thanks to agent Nicolas Grivel for this mise-en-page.