Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Re: Epileptic 2
This book is amazing. There is so much under the text, so much left unsaid - yet somehow it all still manages to emerge and present itself to the reader. The metaphors run deep and remain present, as motifs, throughout the text. For instance, David refers to his "armor." He portrays himself wearing a full suit of Mongolian-style armor (he was obsessed with Genghis Khan as a child), however, his armor isn't physical, it's mental. He protects himself from the pain that his family and his brother face with the epilepsy. He blocks it out.
At first his feelings toward his brother were unclear. I couldn't tell if he felt sorry for him, embarrassed by him, nothing at all... As the story develops, I'm noticing that he seems to feel a little of everything toward him. At times he is embarrassed and at times he is angry. He is even jealous of his brother at points. The story, although focusing on his brother and his illness, seems to be more about David. I would still classify this book as an autobiography, despite the apparent focus being shifted from the writer to his brother.
At first his feelings toward his brother were unclear. I couldn't tell if he felt sorry for him, embarrassed by him, nothing at all... As the story develops, I'm noticing that he seems to feel a little of everything toward him. At times he is embarrassed and at times he is angry. He is even jealous of his brother at points. The story, although focusing on his brother and his illness, seems to be more about David. I would still classify this book as an autobiography, despite the apparent focus being shifted from the writer to his brother.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Re: Epileptic 1
This is a graphic novel written by David B., an acclaimed graphic novelist from Paris. It is autobiographical in a sense, but it has a focus on his brother, more than himself, and the severe case of epilepsy that his brother suffered from.
Right now they are children, and his brother has just begun his bout with epilepsy that will soon consume his life. It's incredible to me how expressive and emotional David B. can make his drawings feel. The amount of emotion packed into them, considering their simplistic, 2-D nature, is astounding. He can move you with a few well placed words and well illustrated metaphors. His writing is rampant with visual metaphors - strange images that stand for a characteristic about a person or a thing. For instance, he draws one man as a cat, because that is what the man seemed like to him. He draws his brother's disease as a terrifying dragon that is emerging from his brother's body.
Right now they are children, and his brother has just begun his bout with epilepsy that will soon consume his life. It's incredible to me how expressive and emotional David B. can make his drawings feel. The amount of emotion packed into them, considering their simplistic, 2-D nature, is astounding. He can move you with a few well placed words and well illustrated metaphors. His writing is rampant with visual metaphors - strange images that stand for a characteristic about a person or a thing. For instance, he draws one man as a cat, because that is what the man seemed like to him. He draws his brother's disease as a terrifying dragon that is emerging from his brother's body.
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