Gossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. Narrated by the omniscient yet unseen blogger "Gossip Girl", the series revolves around the lives and romances amongst the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite private school in New York City's Upper East Side. The series primarily focuses on Blair Waldorf and her best friend, "it girl"Serena van der Woodsen and follows the characters through their high school lives up through their graduation and moving on to college.The first novel, Gossip Girl, was released in April 2002; the eleventh novel of the series was released in May 2007, with a prequel novel following in October 2007. Another follow-up novel, in which the characters return home from college for the holidays, was released in hardback format in November 2009. The original novel became the inspiration for the Gossip Girl teen drama television series, created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, which premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007 and just finished airing its third season.
In May 2008, a follow up series, Gossip Girl: The Carlyles, began publication, following the Carlyles triplets as they begin attending the Constance Billard School for Girls. As of May 2009, three novels have been released in this series. Ziegesar created a spin-off series, The It Girl, which began publication in 2005, and Yen Press has adapted the series into a graphic novel series titledGossip Girl: For Your Eyes Only.
History
The novel that started the series, Gossip Girl, was published in paperback format in April 2002. Two new novels were released annually until the final novel, Don't You Forget About Me, was released in May 2007, showing the main characters graduating from high school and moving on to college and other pursuits. A prequel novel, It Had To Be You, was released in October 2007 in hardcover and electronic book format. It detailed the events that occurred a year before the first novel. A box set containing the eleven novels of the series and the prequel novel, in paperback format, will be released November 1, 2009. In the same month, a sequel novel, I Will Always Love You is also scheduled to be released. The hardcover book tells the story of the main characters returning home from college for the holidays. Hachette Group re-released all of the original novels in electronic book format between 2008 and 2009.
In December 2009, Yen Press announced that it was working with Korean artist Baek Hye-Kyung to create a graphic novel adaptation of the series titled Gossip Girl: For Your Eyes Only. Rather than adapting the original novels, however, the graphic novels will feature original stories with the same characters. It will be serialized in the company's anthology magazine Yen Plus, with the first chapter appearing in the January 2010 issue.
Characters
- Blair Waldorf is the series' main character. She is described as having chestnut brown hair and brilliant blue eyes, being widely involved in extracurricular activities and having a tenacious attitude towards studies. Blair uses her charm, money and social status to get to where and what she wants. Throughout the series, she has an on-off relationship with Nate Archibald. During their off times, he has dated several other girls including her close friend Serena van der Woodsen, whom he slept with while dating Blair. At the end of the series, Blair attends Yale University.
- Serena van der Woodsen is described as being slim, ethereally beautiful, and "perfect". Serena dabbled in modeling before landing a starring role in Breakfast at Fred's, a remake of Breakfast at Tiffany's. Serena has kept a steady string of admirers, including Nate Archibald, Dan Humphrey, Aaron Rose, and an entire a cappella group at Yale University. Serena longs for true romance, and initially seeks this with Nate, despite his relationship with her friend Blair. Serena is often criticized by her classmates, who find her an excellent source of gossip but resent her effortless good looks and her ability to get the attention of any male. At the end of the book series, Serena decides to stay in New York City, instead of attending one of the many Ivy Leagues schools into which she was accepted, so that she can discover her life for herself. After a break from college, she attends Yale University
- Nate Archibald is a wealthy, good-looking lacrosse player from St. Jude's School for Boys. He has dated a number of girls in the series, but his only serious relationship has been with his on-again/off-again girlfriend, Blair Waldorf and her close friend Serena. After stealing his lacrosse coach's Viagra, he relied on Blair and her alumnus father's connections to get accepted to Yale, although he eventually left to sail around the world with his father's Navy mentor because he is unable to choose between Blair and Serena. In the sequel, he attends Deep Springs recommended by Chuck Bass, and then Brown University
- Dan Humphrey is a thin, sensitive, caffeine-addicted poet who often sees the darker side of things. A romantic whose imagination runs off wildly at the worst times, he is also over-analytical and easily frustrated. He was in love with Serena for years before they met and briefly dated, and experimented with homosexuality, before he began dating Vanessa Abrams. He is a published writer of poetry and songs. At the end of the series, he is attending Evergreen State College in Washington. In the sequel he transfers to Columbia University
- Jenny Humphrey is Dan's younger sister and an aspiring artist who wishes to be more like Serena, whom she eventually befriends. She often tries to fit in with the rich girls at her school, even though she does not hold a place in their social sphere. She is eventually kicked out of the Constance Billard School for Girls and sent to a boarding school where she reinvents herself as the "it girl", à la Serena. Her move to the boarding school and her life there became the topic of a spin-off of the series, The It Girl.
- Vanessa Abrams is a budding filmmaker and the total opposite of most of her classmates, sporting a shaved head and always wears black. She has a shaky relationship with Dan Humphrey, particularly after she ends up living with the Humphrey's for a short time. At the end of the series, she is attending New York University.
- Chuck Bass is the series' handsome, lust-driven antagonist who tries to take advantage of several girls, though it is eventually revealed that he is bisexual and he begins dating a male named Greg. He is largely despised by other characters but due to his wealth and power he is tolerated. At the end of the series, he is not accepted into any college that he applied to and claims he is going to military college. However, he never arrives at the school and his whereabouts remain unknown. He later returns to New York as a changed, respectable man. In the books, Chuck is a secondary character. However, he is elevated to a primary role in its television adaptation, in which he holds an intense relationship with Blair.
- Elise Wells is Jenny's best friend and a student at Constance Billard. She discovers homosexual attractions — which prove to be fleeting — and embraces Jenny. She later falls in love with Dan, but he rejects her and after accepting this she encourages him to his relationship with Vanessa.
- Mystery Craze is a poet that Dan has relations with in Because I'm Worth It. As such, Vanessa discovers that Dan is cheating on her while attending a poetry reading where Mystery and Dan are overcome with sexual desires as they do their reading. Their performance thus is overtly sexual.
Reception
The criticism of this series primarily revolves around whether the events depicted in the story are appropriate for the teenage audience the books attract.[27][28] American author and feminist Naomi Wolf calls the books "corruption with a cute overlay," and she claims that "sex saturates the Gossip Girl books.... This is not the frank sexual exploration found in a Judy Blume novel, but teenage sexuality via Juicy Couture, blasé and entirely commodified."[29]
Pam Spencer Holley, former YALSA President with the American Library Association (ALA), presents a different point of view, claiming simply to be "happy to see teen girls reading."[30] Confident that young girls will move onto more respected literature, she points out, "Unless you read stuff that's perhaps not the most literary, you'll never understand what good works are." She went on to say, "Nobody complains about the adult women who read Harlequin romances."[30] Holley created a new ALA book list to encourage teens to consult a list of recommendations for "both avid and reluctant readers, who are looking for books like Cecily von Ziegesar's Gossip Girl series. 'The books on this list are perfect for when your readers have finished with every Gossip Girl title in your library and are clamoring for another book like the Gossip Girl....'"[31]
Television Adaptation
The television adaptation, also titled Gossip Girl, was picked up by The CW.[32] Josh Schwartz, the creator of The O.C., is executive producer for the project.[33] In the show, Blake Lively plays Serena, Leighton Meester plays Blair, Chace Crawford plays Nate, Penn Badgleyplays Dan, Ed Westwick plays Chuck, Taylor Momsen plays Jenny and Jessica Szohr plays Vanessa. The show is based on the books but does not follow the same story line.[34]. However, there are some key characters, such as Aaron Rose or the Lord, that are introduced into the show, as in the books, but with a different storyline.
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