Art Spiegelman on "Maus"

 

A few times each year, the Chicago Public Library chooses a book reflecting some societal theme, sets up programming and events, and presumably procures a bunch of extra copies. This season's pick is Art Spiegelman's "Maus," a graphic novel depicting his father's experiences during the Holocaust. I saw Spiegelman speak last week in Chicago¹ about the case for comics, his relationship with his father, and more, and it was fantastic.

I read "Maus" in a college literature class on cultural trauma, and it's the work that stuck with me the most. "Maus" is one of the first examples of comics telling a personal tale – a strikingly personal tale – and the graphic novel format adds still more immediacy, more intimacy. Spiegelman spoke about how he structured panels and text bubbles: what to show, what to partially obscure, what to hide from the reader's view. He believed, and demonstrated, that comics can do much more than deliver syndicated daily punchlines.

Particularly poignant was Spiegelman's reaction to a Tennessee school district banning his book under what he felt were false pretenses: the use of profanity and nudity. Spiegelman's mother committed suicide in a bathtub, and he talked about how hurt he was when he learned the school board reduced that trauma to "nudity."

His father didn't live to see "Maus" published, but Spiegelman did show him parts of it. Without his knowledge, Spiegelman's stepmother shared the panels about his mother's suicide, and his father was very upset. But when Art talked to him, he said "It's good. I'm glad you could get this out of your system," which really surprised him: "That's why it's so great to use real people because you can't make this s--t up. People are bigger than you ever expect them to be."

Indeed, Spiegelman has done a masterful job capturing the vastness of his father's experiences and emotions within the confines of a few hundred pages of printed panels. "Maus" is a difficult read, but I highly recommended it nonetheless.

 

1 The full talk, including Q&A, is currently available on YouTube. (back)