Throughout this first course of English Literature we have been learning quite a lot about Modernism. However, since 1950, after the Second World War ended, uncertainty and relativity shaped collective thinking leading us to Postmodernism (Hicks, 2004: 20), which of course also influenced English Literature. One example of this is Daniel Clowes' Ghost World (1997), work in which we can not only find features of Postmodern Literature, but also of postmodern thinking specially in the two protagonists: Enid and Rebecca (Becky). Let's analyze...
Features of Postmodern Literature in Ghost World
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| Daniel Clowes |
In light of the elements of Postmodern Literature described in Mbaye (2014: 205-210), some features we can appreciate in Ghost World are:
Genre mixture
Is Ghost World a novel or a comic? The most likely answer seems to be 'graphic novel', since we can find in it elements of both literary narrative, which contribute with the fluency and verisimilitude given by verbal language, and comic, that contributes with the dynamism and expressiveness of drawing.
Metafiction
As metalanguage is the one used to explain language itself, metafiction is used by authors to explain fiction. Commonly, authors imply metafiction in their work to reflect on their own process of creation and how their experiences and personalities contribute or limit it. Noenetheless, in the particular case of Ghost World, metafiction may be used by Clowes as an attempt to guess how young adult readers (they main audience he targets) see his work. Concretely, there is a moment in the novel when Enid and Becky talk about the work of a drawer curiously called David Clowes.
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| Pedophilia, sexual precocity and sickness, instances of black humor in Ghost World. |
Black humor
Black humor emerged as a way to internalize and reflect on social decay, issue which in Modernist Literature was often interpreting from the perspectives of pessimism and despair. Thus, we find moments thoughout the story in which the matter of humor that amuses Enid and Becky has to do with politically incorrect topics such as pedophilia, satanism, sickness, violence and sexual precocity.
Juxtaposition of parallel stories
Even though Enid and Becky are the main characters in Ghost World, theirs is not the only story developed in the graphic novel. Actually several parallel stories interweave with it, most of which are never concluded. Melorra's, Bob Skeetes', John Ellis', Norman's, the Satanists' are some examples.
Magical realism
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| A moment of magical realism in Ghost World |
Faith in esotericism revived as a way to give depth to an existence that seems to be trivial, which was strengthened by the advent of the New Age movement. The credible and the incredible take place together with equal validity. In Ghost World, we can clearly appreciate this towards the end of the story, when Enid asks Bob Skeetes, a self-proclaimed astrologer, to predict her future so as to ensure herself that everything will be allright for her and Becky.
It is needed to clarify that the features described above are not the only ones involved in postmodern narratives and they are not exclusive of this movement either, as some of them are shared with prior and later tendencies.
Features of postmodern thinking in Enid and Becky
Considering the attributes of postmodern characters described in Crews (1999: 21-29), we can identify in Enid and Becky the following:
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| Examples of Enid's style changes |
Self-marginalization and individualism
Community is more powerful than just the individual, therefore, in it our distinctive identity is lost, that is why some of us are particularly concerned for differentiating ourselves from the rest, albeit this leads some people never define themselves. This is what affects Enid precisely and the reason behind her constant style changes. She is permanently tasting new styles so as to find the one that fully suits her personality. This is also the reason behind her fondness to look for new places to go to, a different fate, different motivations, different objectives and different experiences. Enid is almost desperate for individuality in such way that she turn her friendship with Becky into a deeply hermetic relationship that keeps them marginalized from their peers.
Allusion to pop culture
In Postmodernity there is a significant distinction between high culture and pop culture especially after 1980's. Because pop culture is comprised by all products and manifestations that are supposed to be assimilated by a massive group, it is in turn expected that young people, due to their limited cultural background, are easily impressed by pop culture, making it a key topic in their conversations, reflections and models, just like Enid and Becky, who are permanently contextualizing many of their ideas by referring to movies, books, albums, comics and TV shows specially oriented to their generation.
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| A moment of nostalgia for Enid and Becky |
Nostalgia
Enid and Becky do not attempt to reconstruct the past, neither to make up its consequencues. But they use memories and nostalgia to make current life senseful. A key moment in Ghost World occurs when they check some old photographies to remember their childhoods and recall how they befriended each other.
Uncertainty and devastation
Enid and Becky spend the summer in a loop. The new society have designed for them some ways to 'become happy', which do not necessarily help them to ensure about future. Enid and Becky could go college, get a job, get married, go on a trip, but none of this alternatives calm down their anxiety about future, a future always out of control.
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| Enid having taken the decision to change to reach her dreams |
Capitalism
Both Enid and Becky are forced to make decisions based on capitalist motives. Enid is going to enroll a program at college, whereas Becky does not and accepts a job at a dinner instead. For Becky, losing his best friend is devastating, because then her life will become empty, unless she has "something to do". While Enid sees in her oppotunity a chance to leave, forget their past and become "someone completely different" so as to be ready to start a life that makes her truly happy, which does not mean she is not aware of how the desire of 'a better life' forces us to change what we are like, to reshape our dreams and, above all, lose what we love.
Always -modern
Enid and Becky were part of a new generation that inherits an ancient world to redefine it. They found decay, fear, absurdity and hopelessness, but also love, humor, significance and fascination. Society and culture had stopped being classical, being modern and started being postmodern. In this precise moment, Enid and Becky must be being part of a redifinition of all what we see, what we believe, what we feel, whereas in the time coming, a new Enid and a new Becky will be roaming the city absorbing and manifesting the world they will inherit from us, with renewed tendencies, always "-moderns", always define by prefix before the -modern, in sum, probably called, well, [something]-modern.
References
Crews, B. (1999). Postmodernist Narrative: In Search of an Alternative. Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses, 12(1), pp. 19-36.
Hicks, S. (2004). Explaining Postmodernism. Milwaukee: Scholargy.
Mbaye, D. (2014). Entender la posmodernidad literaria: Una hermenéutica desde la "segunda fila". Araucaria. Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política y Humanidades, vol. 16, no. 31, pp. 203-211.
