Epileptic by David Beauchard.
Requirements: CBR Reader, 163 MB.
Overview: Hailed by The Comics Journal as one of Europe’s most important and innovative comics artists, David B. has created a masterpiece in Epileptic, his stunning and emotionally resonant autobiography about growing up with an epileptic brother. Epileptic gathers together and makes available in English for the first time all six volumes of the internationally acclaimed graphic work.
- "One of the greatest graphic novels ever published." –Publishers Weekly
“It’s a unique life story, but what possibly matters more here is David B’s incredible artwork.” — doomsdayer520
“One of the best graphic novels I’ve read, second only to Jimmy Corrigan.” aditya bhargava
“I enjoy flipping through the book now to relive the experience I had reading it the first time.” Dr. T
Genre: Comics, Graphic Novel, Biography.
Epileptic / L’Ascension du haut mal
- David Beauchard writer, artist
Published by L’Association, Fantagraphics, Pantheon Books, 1996-2011.
- Hailed by The Comics Journal as one of Europe’s most important and innovative comics artists, David B. has created a masterpiece in Epileptic, his stunning and emotionally resonant autobiography about growing up with an epileptic brother. Epileptic gathers together and makes available in English for the first time all six volumes of the internationally acclaimed graphic work.
David B. was born Pierre-François Beauchard in a small town near Orléans, France. He spent an idyllic early childhood playing with the neighborhood kids and, along with his older brother, Jean-Christophe, ganging up on his little sister, Florence. But their lives changed abruptly when Jean-Christophe was struck with epilepsy at age eleven. In search of a cure, their parents dragged the family to acupuncturists and magnetic therapists, to mediums and macrobiotic communes. But every new cure ended in disappointment as Jean-Christophe, after brief periods of remission, would only get worse.
Angry at his brother for abandoning him and at all the quacks who offered them false hope, Pierre-François learned to cope by drawing fantastically elaborate battle scenes, creating images that provide a fascinating window into his interior life. An honest and horrifying portrait of the disease and of the pain and fear it sowed in the family, Epileptic is also a moving depiction of one family’s intricate history. Through flashbacks, we are introduced to the stories of Pierre-François’s grandparents and we relive his grandfathers’ experiences in both World Wars. We follow Pierre-François through his childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, all the while charting his complicated relationship with his brother and Jean-Christophe”s losing battle with epilepsy. Illustrated with beautiful and striking black-and-white images, Epileptic is as astonishing, intimate, and heartbreaking as the best literary memoir
Epileptic was originally published in French by L’Association in six volumes from 1996 to 2003. The first half of the series was published in English by Fantagraphics in one volume in 2002; a complete edition was released by Pantheon in 2005. The fourth volume won the 2000 Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Scenario. David B. won the 2005 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Artist for his work on the series. 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.
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.
A visual treat with a deeper message, Reviewed by Dr. T on August 29, 2005.
- I read this book from the perspective of having a family member with epilepsy. Not only is this a great "graphic novel," it accurately portrays the experience one has living with a family member that is afflicted. It was astonishing to me that the author’s family was so heavily involved with alternative therapies. I can identify since that has been a factor in our family too. Macrobiotics played a prominent role in both cases initially but without effect. Reading about their journey left me not knowing whether to laugh or cry since so many of those experiences are familiar.
I knew I was going to identify with this book after reading page 10. On that page is a picture of many doctors making a big ring around the patient and his parents. It is so typical of the endless search for a treatment that will bring back the person that we knew before the seizures started. One phenomenon this book so accurately captures is a feeling of near helplessness as the seizures come and go in spite of medical therapy. Then with poor control the afflicted individual can slowly slide down a path of mental deterioration.
I was impressed with how many alternative therapies were tried before the family gave up. Each new alternative therapy was like the hope of a "cure" dangling just out of reach. They seemed to go through the range of conventional medical therapies offered at the time as well. Possibly, frustration with conventional medicine, due to unrealistic expectations, leads one to explore the other paths of unconventional treatments.
The artwork is magnificent. The symbolism is wonderful. To grasp it all would require a reading dedicated to pondering each image, and possibly the reader would need a personal experience with a family member or friend that was afflicted with epilepsy. I enjoy flipping through the book now to relive the experience I had reading it the first time. The drawings bring back the emotions.
I highly recommend this book. For those that would try alternative therapy for epilepsy, to the exclusion of what modern western medicine has to offer, the outcome of the book might make them think twice.
Download Instructions:
http://corneey.com/wK6uip — Epileptic by David Beauchard (2005)
- Mirror:
- http://www.gboxes.com/bzd68r1dzd8f — Epileptic by David Beauchard (2005)
http://corneey.com/wK6uih — Epileptic by David Beauchard 2005
http://corneey.com/wK6uin — Epileptic by David Beauchard 2005
http://corneey.com/wK6uiW — Epileptic by David Beauchard (2005)
