ghost world
ghost world
Fantagraphics 1997
Ghost World is a graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. It was serialized in issues #11–18 (June 1993 – March 1997) of Clowes’s comic book series Eightball and was published in book form in 1997 by Fantagraphics Books. It was a commercial and critical success and developed into a cult classic.
Ghost World follows the day-to-day lives of best friends Enid Coleslaw and Rebecca Doppelmeyer, two cynical, pseudo-intellectual, and intermittently witty teenage girls recently graduated from high school at the end of the 1990s. They spend their days wandering aimlessly around their unnamed American town, criticizing popular culture and the people they encounter while wondering what they will do for the rest of their days.
A darkly written comic, with intermittently sombre explorations of friendship and modern life, Ghost World has become renowned for its frank treatment of adolescence. Ghost World takes place in an unnamed suburban town filled with shopping malls, fast food restaurants, and urban sprawl. The town plays a key part in the narrative, as it is constantly mocked and criticized by Enid and Rebecca. As the story progresses, the background changes dramatically. The phrase “Ghost World” is seen by the characters several times, painted or graffitied on garage doors, signs, and billboards for an undeclared reason. The term can also apply to the way in which both Enid and Becky, but especially Enid, are haunted by the past. In the special features of the film adaptation, it is said to refer to the fact that the town’s individuality is being encroached upon by franchises that are seen everywhere.
Critical response to Ghost World was extensive: many critics praised it for its analysis of teenage life, relationships, and the decay of today’s society, while others criticized it for being disconnected and morbid. Some reviews drew comparisons to J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1951).
ghost world
