- Epileptic (graphic novel)
"Epileptic" is the English title of "L'ascension du haut mal" (meaning The Rise of the High Evil), an autobiographical
graphic novel byDavid Beauchard (more commonly known as David B.), originally published in French byL'Association in six volumes from1996 to2003 . The first half of the series was published in English by Fantagraphics in one volume in2002 (ISBN 2-84414-085-8); a complete edition was released by Pantheon in2005 .The book tells the story of the artist's early childhood and adolescence, focusing on his relationship with his brother and sister. His brother develops severe and intractable
epilepsy , causing the family to seek a variety of solutions fromalternative medicine , most dramatically by moving to a commune based on macrobiotic principles. As the epileptic brother loses control of his own life, the artist develops solitary obsessions with cartoons, mythology and war. The book's graphic style becomes increasingly elaborate as the children's fantasy life takes over, with their dreams and fears (including epilepsy itself) appearing as living creatures. In brief interludes, the children appear as adults when the artist begins the process of writing the story.The French title proved difficult to translate, as it contains several meanings: "haut mal" is an archaic term for epilepsy meaning literally "high evil" or "great sickness" (formerly used as a medical term in English, now replaced by "grand mal"), and "ascension" can mean either rise or climbing, as seen in a recurring image of the family climbing a steep slope into unknown terrain.
The English translation of the book received very good reviews from critics. The review aggregator
Metacritic reported the book had an average score of 92 out of 100, based on 15 reviews. [cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/books/authors/bdavid/epileptic |title=Epileptic by David B.: Reviews |accessdate=2008-02-15 |publisher=Metacritic ] "Publishers Weekly " has called it "one of the greatest graphic novels ever published."References
External links
An article (in French) by Renaud Pasquier [http://www.revuelabyrinthe.org/document1437.html "David B., le sommeil de la raison"] in the journal [http://www.revuelabyrinthe.org/sommaire1409.html "Labyrinthe" #25 "La bande dessinée : ce qu'elle dit, ce qu'elle montre", 2006.]
* [http://culturatti.com/2008/01/17/epileptic-is-schizophrenic-but-interestingly-so/ Epileptic Is Schizophrenic -- But Interestingly So]
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