Travelling in a globalised world as an existential experience: the graphic novel in the water. Issue 6 (2nd November 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Weissbrod, Rachel; Kohn, Ayelet
• Is Part Of: Journal of graphic novels & comics. Volume 13:Issue 6(2022)
• Page Start: 835
• Page End: 850
• Publication Date: 2022-11-02
• Subjects: Graphic novel -- multimodality -- journey -- hotel -- existentialism -- globalisation; Graphic novels -- Periodicals; Comic books, strips, etc -- Periodicals; Popular culture -- Periodicals; Art, Modern -- 21st century -- Periodicals; Art, Modern; Comic books, strips, etc; Graphic novels; Popular culture; Comicroman; Comic; Periodicals; 741.5
• DOI: 10.1080/21504857.2021.2006731
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2150-4857

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper sets to show how a multimodal depiction of a trip to a foreign country is used to spin an existential fable adapted to our times. Our case study is the graphic novel In the Water ( Ba-Mayim in Hebrew) by the Israeli poet Tehila Hakimi and the illustrator Liron Cohen, published in 2016. The novel turns upside down our expectations from such a trip by manipulating the verbal, visual and spatial dimensions of the experience. The hotel rather than the new place is at the centre, it is situated in Shanghai but could be located anywhere, and the endless wandering between its restaurants, corridors and elevators leads to the conclusion that it is actually a journey into the self, which is both personal and representative of the experience of living in today's globalised and alienated world.