Summary

Chapter 1: Old Father, Old Artificer – Alison Bechdel compares her relationship with her father to Icarus, who, upon refusing to listen to his father’s advice, flew too close to the sun and fell from the sky. Bechdel explains that in her case, it was her father who fell from the sky. She says that if her father was Icarus, he would also be Daedalus, father of Icarus, who first fashioned the wings Icarus used. Bechdel reveals she grew up in a big old house in Pennsylvania built with money from the 1867 lumber boom. Having fallen into disrepair by the time her father bought it, her father spent 18 years fixing it up. She says that her father, like Daedalus, was incredibly talented at doing such things.

Although Bechdel's father was an English teacher, his passion was restoration. He often made Bechdel and her siblings help...