graphicmemoir2017-blog

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Kevin’s Personal Piece

Ever since my early teen years, I’ve always had an interest when it comes to World War history, especially of the Second World War. My interests were mainly rooted in the perspective of the soldier, especially those of the Allied Forces, but it wasn’t until taking further classes that got me into learning about what occurred during the war from the perspective of the average person, including those of Jewish decent. Reading Maus is definitely one of those eye opening experiences which allows you to gain the perspective directly from someone who barely even survived both the war, and the holocaust itself; Art Spiegelman’s father. On top of that, thanks to the “graphic comic” format, it allows for easy digestion and understanding of the content within.

Its funny to mention though, there’s been many occasions where I was so close to borrowing a copy of Maus from my local library in my high school years. The only reason why I didn’t pick it up was because of not comprehending the connection to seeing the swastika in the front cover with the cat on it. Up until this project however, and I’m glad to have been able to read it. 

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Aaron’s Personal Piece

I started dating a Jewish girl this year and in turn I decided “Maus” would be a fun read, especially as she said she had read it before. I thought it would be interesting to talk to her about something that she’s learned about much more than I have and thought it would be good to read because I could ask questions if I had any. In the end, I was right! I read it while she was doing other homework and would often ask her questions or laugh with her about the Yiddish sayings that the book uses. I learned the meaning of many common Yiddish phrases, which made reading “Maus” much more fun.

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Maus: Color & Action

Art Spiegelman choose to illustrate “Maus” is entirely in black and white with influence from woodblock printing. Each picture and scene is completely flat therefore Spiegelman uses techniques with lines of various lengths and widths to create depth and texture. The lack of color allows for an eerie atmosphere which intensifies the severity of one of Vladek’s experiences. For instance, the photos below are of the cover of “Maus” but one is a colored version. As seen the colored version looks more inviting where the one on the right gives off a menacing feeling.

The use of color catches a readers eye and is key when drawing in a crowd especially when bold bright colors are used. A reader may be hesitant to pick up a book with a bland looking cover which is why inviting covers are more popular. When reading “Maus” the feeling is similar to that of a comic strip in the news paper.

Action is portrayed very minimally in “Maus”, Spiegelman demonstrates action through sharp think lines and negative space. As seen in the photo below, A bullet is being fired at Vladek and is represented by the white space passing by him and creating an “explosion” through the tent. If it were not for Vladek’s initial remark on how a German soldier shot at him, it would be difficult to make out what the scene is depicting. 

The use of dramatic lines is common in comic strips and books to show some form of activity, however “Maus” lacks in shading and uses thick hard lines making it very stationary and stiff. Japanese manga and American comic use a variety of shades, width of lines and use onomatopoeia; words describing sound. As seen in the photos below, the intensity of a scene changes when the lines become the source of action instead of the negative space.

(Scene from “Naruto”)

(Scene taken from “Spider Man”)

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Arceline’s Annotated Bibliography

<http://www.haaretz.com/news/study-holocaust-survivors-3-times-more-likely-to-attempt-suicide-1.166386>

Spiegelman, Art. "Why Mice?"The New York Review of Books. N.p., n.d. Web. Mar. 2017. <http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/10/20/why-mice/>.A written article by Art Spiegelman about why he choose mice as characters in “Maus”

Shmoop Editorial Team. "What Animal Allegory? in Maus: A Survivor's Tale."Shmoop. Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008. Web. Mar. 2017. <http://www.shmoop.com/maus/what-animal-allegory-symbol.html>.

"Q&A With Art Spiegelman, Creator of 'Maus'"Tablet Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. Mar. 2017. <http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/152310/art-spiegelman-jewish-museum>.

De Angelis, Richard. ”Of Mice and Vermin: Animals as Absent Referent in Art Spiegelman’s Maus”. Comic Book Justice. N.d. Web. April 2017

<http://www.comicbookjustice.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Of-mice-and-vermin.pdf>

Comtois, Pierre. “Top 10 Most Influential Comics of the 1980s”. PJ Media. 18 August 2014. Web. April 2017.

<https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2014/8/18/top-10-most-influential-comics-of-the-1980s/>

Ekko. “The Top 20 COmic Book Stories of the 1980s”. Berkeley Place. 10 March 2009. Web. April 2017

<http://berkeleyplaceblog.com/2009/03/10/the-top-20-comic-book-stories-of-the-1980s/>

Traubmann, Tamara. “Study: Holocaust Survivors 3 Times More Likely to Attempt Suicide”. Haaretz. 10 August 2005. Web. April 2017

Holocaust a Call to Conscience. “The Killing Machine”. ProjectAladin.org. 2009. Web. April 2017

<http://www.projetaladin.org/holocaust/en/history-of-the-holocaust-shoah/the-killing-machine/why-did-nazi-germany-end-up-killing-millions-of-jews.html>

Price, Nicoal. “Color vs Black and White photography - What makes sense and when?”. Photography Vox. n.d. Web. April 2017

<http://www.photographyvox.com/a/color-vs-black-and-white-photography/>

Parker, John. “The Great Art Comic Evangelist: A Tribute to Art Spiegelman”. Comics Alliance. 15 February 2016. Web. April 2017.

<http://comicsalliance.com/tribute-art-spiegelman/>

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References

Text References

Witek, Joseph, ed. Art Spiegelman: conversations. Jackson: U Press of Mississippi, 2007. Print.

Campbell, James. Syncopations: Beats, New Yorkers, and Writers in the Dark. N.p.: U of California Press, 2008. Print.

Kaplan, Arie. Masters of the comic book universe revealed! Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2006. Print. Web References

Ray, Michael. "Art Spiegelman." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 11 Oct. 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

"Art Spiegelman - Comic Book DB." Art Spiegelman - Comic Book DB. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.

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Maus: Characterization

Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel “Maus”, used anthropomorphism to represented nationality groups as certain animals. The use of animals helped create relational imagery between groups based on their animal representative. For instance, those of Jewish descent were represented as mice, the Germans were represented as cats, Polish as pigs and Americans as dogs. 

Those who were Jewish were represented as mice in “Maus”, which coincidentally translates to mouse. This is because Jews were considered the lowest kind people and were treated in a ways that were inhumane. Nazi’s goal was to exterminate Jews due to eugenics, the elimination of “abnormalities and illnesses” from their own race. They were left in concentration camps to essentially starve and fight for food scraps. The camps were extremely unhygienic as it was littered in feces, bodies and pests; such as fleas and rats. In respect to mice, cats are considered their worst enemies hence the Nazi were drawn as cats. Jews were belittled, tortured and left to work in hard condition. Jewish people and were left in the mercy of the Nazi’s claws and forced to bow and perform at their will. Unfortunately children, were treated as lab experiments that would either leave them deformed or dead.   

In a documentary Spiegelman watched he recalled that “Jews [were in] a ghetto swarming in tight quarters, bearded caftaned creatures, and then a cut to Jews as mice—or rather rats—swarming in a sewer”. Jews were often represented as rodents in literature and media, and it was this that drew Spiegelman to finalize his decision to draw Jews as mice/rats. 

On the other hand, Nazi were powerful cats that dominated “mice infested” territories. Spiegelman drew the Nazi as cats to illustrate the mouse and cat relationship between the Jews and Nazi. Due to the Nazi ideology, The German army stripped many of the Jewish people of their possessions and title leaving them with nothing. The cats are seen to be drawn with an evil atmosphere and bigger than all the mice.

The Polish were represented by pigs, and often Jews are seen wearing pigs mask to disguise themselves as regular Polish people. During World War 2, Poland was defeated within 2 months of being invaded and the residences were forced under the will of the Nazi. Some followed under the Nazi army, agreeing to their ideology, others helped the Jews hide and escape from the army and some stayed neutral. 

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Awards

1982: Playboy Editorial Award, Best Comic Strip

1982: Yellow Kid Award (de), Lucca, Italy, for Foreign Author

1983: Print, Regional Design Award

1984: Print, Regional Design Award

1985: Print, Regional Design Award

1986: Joel M. Cavior, Jewish Writing

1987: Inkpot Award

1988: Angoulême International Comics Festival, France, Prize for Best Comic Book, for Maus

1988: Urhunden Prize, Sweden, Best Foreign Album, for Maus

1990: Guggenheim Fellowship

1990: Max & Moritz Prize, Erlangen, Germany, Special Prize, for Maus

1992: Pulitzer Prize Letters award, for Maus

1992: Eisner Award, Best Graphic Album (reprint), for Maus

1992: Harvey Award, Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work, for Maus

1992: Los Angeles Times, Book Prize for Fiction for Maus II

1993: Angoulême International Comics Festival, Prize for Best Comic Book, for Maus II

1993: Sproing Award, Norway, Best Foreign Album, for Maus

1993: Urhunden Prize, Best Foreign Album, for Maus II

1995: Binghamton University (formerly Harpur College), honorary Doctorate of Letters

1999: Eisner Award, inducted into the Hall of Fame

2005: French government, Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

2005: Time magazine, one of the "Top 100 Most Influential People"

2011: Angoulême International Comics Festival, Grand Prix

2015: American Academy of Arts and Letters membership

(An example of the Pulitzer Prize, an award for excellence in newspaper journalism, literary achievements, and musical composition in the United States.)

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Works

Spiegelman spent much of the 1970s working on short experimental comics, which appended towards his strengthening reputation as a cartoonist, as well as a key figure in the underground comix movement. One vivid example of the many short comics/strips he has worked on include the original "Maus" comic, a three-page strip which in essence became the baseline for the similarly named comic/graphic memoir. This became so as Spiegelman's father provided him with definitive background information to improve the original comic with. In doing so, piqued Spiegelman's interest in his father's past, which led to the recordings of a series of interviews with his father in addition to further research including those other Holocaust survivors' accounts, including other friends and family members. Moving on, Spiegelman has invested much time in his works, of which include ten plus authored works in addition to eight plus co-edited works acting as a support/mentor role for other authors. It is through his efforts and determination that pushed for a change in perspective on the thought of creative mediums, as at the time graphic novels in we’re not considered as valid creative mediums, let alone a medium to garner attention by academics. It wasn’t until the publishing of Maus that gave it significant academic attention, as it was realistically on of the first graphic novels to do so.

List of Authored Works

1977: Breakdowns: From Maus to Now, an Anthology of Strips

1991: Maus

1994: The Wild Party

1995: Open Me, I'm A Dog

2001: Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched to Their Limits

2004: In the Shadow of No Towers

2008: Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!

2008: Jack and the Box

2009: Be a Nose

2011: MetaMaus

2013: Co-Mix: A Retrospective of Comics, Graphics, and Scraps 

(Breakdowns, a collection of Spiegelman's experimental strips)

List of Co-Edited Works

1972-74: Short Order Comix

1973: Whole Grains: A Book of Quotations (with Bob Schneider)

1975–76: Arcade (with Bill Griffith)

1980–91: Raw (with Françoise Mouly)

1994: City of Glass (graphic novel adaptation by David Mazzucchelli of the Paul Auster novel)

1995: The Narrative Corpse

2000–03: Little Lit (with Françoise Mouly)

2009: The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics (with Françoise Mouly)

2010: Lynd Ward: Six Novels in Woodcuts

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Adult Life

As he grew into his teen years, Spiegelman attended Harpur College, which is now known as Binghamton University to study art and philosophy between 1965 and 1968, despite his parents wishes of him becoming a dentist. On the summer of 1966, Spiegelman continued to push his efforts in his position with Topps, now a creative consultant position tasked to developing and illustrating novelty cards, stickers, and candy products (Spiegelman, XVIII). At that same time, Spiegelman also begins his involvement with the Underground Comix movement, selling self published works on street corners, which includes publications with the underground newspaper The East Village Other in 1967. The movement itself was in essence a counterculture movement, pushing comics that are socially relevant or satirical in nature, as a push against mainstream comics and the Comics Code Authority, a industry trade group. The CCA on its own acted as a censor, pushing against publications that did not follow their regulations. Near the end of 1968, Spiegelman suffered an episode of an intense nervous breakdown, which forced him to cut his studies short. Due to it, he spends a month at the Binghamton State Mental Hospital. As soon as he got out however, his mother Anja had committed suicide. Despite what occurred, Spiegelman, after several visits, later moves to San Francisco in 1971.

(Cover art for the edition released for April 16 - May 1, 1967 of The East Village Other)

As Spiegelman makes the move to San Francisco, he begins by playing a larger part with the Underground Comix movement, leading to the appearance of works such as Young Lust, Real Pulp, and Bizarre Sex.  He continued his publishing of works throughout the most of the 70’s, which on July 12th, 1977, included the marriage between himself and his wife Françoise Mouly. In the years between 1979-87, Spiegelman began teaching at the School of Visual Arts in New York. During this time he had also began his efforts with the creation of Maus, originally in the form of a comic strip in a magazine newly launched and co-edited by both Spiegelman and Mouly in 1980, titled Raw.  The magazine itself acted as an anthology of comics other graphics, aimed to the publishing the works of unknown artists, generating exposure for them. As for the original Maus strip, Spiegelman had also conducted interviews with his father to gain a better perspective on his experiences during the Holocaust up until Vladek’s death on August 18th, 1982. By 1986, Spiegelman finished Maus 1, publishing it as a book edition after having struggled with the trouble of finding a publisher who would do so. Even with the release and later success of the book edition, the Raw magazine continued to publish new chapters for every new issue up until 1991, which showed every chapter except for the last, which is shown in the book.

As the times continued on well into the early 1990’s, both Spiegelman and Mouly gain positions with The New Yorker; Spiegelman as contributing editor and cover artist, and Mouly as art editor. Specifically in 1992, Spiegelman received a Pulitzer Prize special award for Maus, and on top of that, the Museum of Modern Art in New York had a exhibition set up containing the artwork, sketches, and research materials used for Maus. Both Spiegelman and Mouly continue their efforts with The New Yorker in the 90’s up to the early 2000’s, which ended in 2003 for Spiegelman as he did not renew his contract. However. Spiegelman regreted doing so, as he could have had the opportunity to take advantage of his position and leave the magazine as a form of protest, as the magazine ran a pro-invasion of Iraq piece that same year. Either way, Spiegelman’s reason for leaving The New Yorker was partly due to his general disappointment with the increasing conformism with mass media during the Bush era. He felt that mass media had become more conservative and timid following the September 11 attacks. Further on to 2011, Spiegelman went on to get MetaMaus published, which acted as a companion item to The Complete Maus, adding further background material used in the creation of Maus. The book also includes a number of documents, including a number of rejection letters Spiegelman received from other publishers as he attempted to get Maus published, until he finally achieved a contract for it.

(Spiegelman’s first magazine cover, which on February 15th, 1993 on the Valentine’s Day issue. It was intended as a reference to the Crown Heights riot of 1991.)

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Early Life

Art Spiegelman was originally born in Stockholm, Sweden on February 15th, 1948. By 1951, his parents Vladek and Anja made the decision to immigrate to the US, initially settling in Norristown, Pennsylvania, to later move in 1957 to Rego Park in Queens New York. In his childhood years, there is one notable story, which is also mentioned in the beginning pages of Maus 1, where he fell when he went skating with friends at the age ten (in 1958). This beginning scene sets up the kind of thoughts/perspectives his father Vladek held, which is so due to the experiences Vladek went through during the Holocaust. Advancing on, it was four years later at the age of fourteen where Spiegelman had his mind set on becoming a cartoonist, thanks in part to comics such as the MAD comics. Being a broad field in itself, he went as far as to trying everything there is to getting closer to art, to even go as far as to approaching the editors of the Long Island Post for a posted position as a staff cartoonist, which became a success for him, despite it being an unpaid. Along with the position, Spiegelman had began his studies in 1963 at Manhattan’s High School of Art and Design, up until his graduation in 1965. By then, he was offered a paid position by Woody Gelman, the art director of Topps Chewing Gum Company, enabling Spiegelman to work as a freelance artist.

(A photo of Art Spiegelman in 1969)

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Calvin’s Annotated Bibliography

"Underground Comix And The Underground Press". Lambiek.net. N. p., 2017. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. This website was used to learn more about the underground comix movement and the reasons it was created.

Witek, J. (1990). Comic books as history: the narrative art of Jack Jackson, Art Spiegelman, and Harvey Pekar. Jackson, Miss.: Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was used to learn more about the use of comic books as a method to retell historical events.

Cooke, Rachel. "Art Spiegelman: 'Auschwitz became for us a safe place'" The Observer. Guardian News and Media, 22 Oct. 2011. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. This article was used to find out details of the interview Rachel Cooke had with Art Spiegelman.

Mautner, Chris. "“It’s Only One Book”: An Art Spiegelman Interview." The Comics Journal. N.p., 17 Nov. 2011. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. This article was used to find out details of the interview Chris Mautner had with Art Spiegelman.

"1919-1933: an economic overview." The Holocaust Explained. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2017. This website was used to gain more information about the holocaust.

"German Economy in the 1920s." German Economy in the 1920s. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2017.

Trueman, Chris. "The Rise of the Nazi Party." History Learning Site. N.p., 22 May 2015. Web. 1 Mar. 2017.

Trueman, Chris. "The Nazi Party." History Learning Site. N.p., 9 Mar. 2015. Web. 1 Mar. 2017.

""Final Solution": Overview." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2017.

"Concentration Camps, 1939–1942." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2017.

"The Holocaust Death Toll". Telegraph.co.uk. N. p., 2005. Web. 1 Mar. 2017.

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Maus: Media Appearances

In another interview, Art Spiegelman talked to reporter Chris Mautner, from The Comics Journal, about MetaMaus and his reasons for revealing much of the “behind-the-scenes” for Maus. MetaMaus is a book which Spiegelman wrote in order to answer many of the frequently asked questions about his book, Maus, and also mentions the struggles of writing and getting the book published.

With the release and insane popularity of Maus, Art Spiegelman has made many media appearances through interviews and even art exhibits. In his interview with The Observer, Spiegelman talked about his new book, MetaMaus, a book which goes through some of the processes and hardships he went through to create Maus. The interview also mentions how the unexpected success of Maus I made Spiegelman uneasy and he was unsure if he would be able to produce the second volume of Maus. “‘I think that the shock of being celebrated, rewarded for depicting so much death, gave me the bends…’” (Cooke, 2011).

In more recent years, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) put up an exhibition of Spiegelman’s works. It was called Art Spiegelman’s CO-MIX: A Retrospective, and the exhibition ran from December, 20th, 2014 to March, 4th, 2015. The exhibition was meant to highlight Spiegelman's career as a comic artist and also to emphasize his belief that comics can be a method for personal expression. The National was able to get an interview with Art Spiegelman while touring the art exhibit.

In another interview, Art Spiegelman talked to reporter Chris Mautner, from The Comics Journal, about MetaMaus and his reasons for revealing much of the “behind-the-scenes” for Maus. MetaMaus is a book which Spiegelman wrote in order to answer many of the frequently asked questions about his book, Maus, and also mentions the struggles of writing and getting the book published.

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Maus: Reception and Reviews

Maus’ first appearance was in December 1980 in the second issue of Raw magazine, a comics anthology edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, as a single chapter. Each new issue of the magazine came with a new chapter of Maus until the magazine publication came to an end in 1991. Spiegelman wanted to create a book edition of Maus but initially struggled to find a publisher. When Maus was finally picked up by Pantheon Books, the first six chapters were released in 1986.

(Cover of the first volume of RAW magazine)

The initial publication of the book was a huge success and completely exceeded Spiegelman’s expectations. Part of the attention came from how different Maus, as a comic, was compared to other comic books at the time. It was even considered as one of the “Big-Three” along with Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. These three works were said to have founded the term “graphic novel”. With the success of Maus, it opened up a completely new genre of comic books, and it was no longer a medium only appropriate for children. It inspired many people to create comic books with a much more serious tone.

Needless to say, the graphic novel has many positive reviews and was even ranked highly on many literatures and comics lists such as:

Time - placed seventh on their list of best non-fiction books from between 1923 and 2005

Wizard - placed first on their list of 100 Greatest Graphic Novels

Entertainment Weekly - placed seventh on their list of The New Classics: Books - The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008

The Comics Journal - placed fourth in the Greatest Comics Work of the 20th Century

Also to note, Art Spiegelmans graphic novel, Maus, is the only graphic novel to have won the Pulitzer award!

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Maus: Interviews

Art Spiegelman is best known for his graphic novel, Maus, and most of the interviews found online are about him and his famous novel. One of the reasons why Maus and his later works is so popular is because his drawings can be somewhat controversial. It seemed that in his later works, “In the Shadow of No Towers” and “Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!”, showed a lot of his own thoughts and political views. In an interview Spiegelman had with Theo Dorgan, Spiegelman mentions how he never thought he would be a critical voice in society nor did he ever think of himself as a political cartoonist. The link to the interview can be found here.

(One of Art Spiegelmans other works)

One of the many reasons why Maus is so popular is because of the controversy it created. In an interview with Marcia Alvar, Spiegelman answers many of the questions people have asked since the book’s release. He also answers some questions regarding his relationship with his father. Link to the interview here.

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Maus: Historical, Social, and Cultural Context

After World War I:

After the first world war, Germany suffered huge losses, one of which was Germany's economy. Germany was forced to pay reparations to France and Great Britain due to the treaty of Versailles, and because they were unable to make the huge payments, Germany was forced to give up roughly thirteen percent of its land.

Germany first tried to recover from such huge losses with social spending. Many projects were created in an attempt to bring back the economy and to try and decrease the unemployment rate. Some of the projects created include transportation projects and the modernization of power plants. Although social spending was increasing at an incredible rate, it was not enough to recover the economy.

This eventually lead to Germany accepting loans from the USA, which allowed Germany to finally rebuild their economy, this is now known as the ‘Golden Years’. With Germany’s economy rebuilt and unemployment rate reduced, the people of Germany began to feel safe and secure once again.

However, when the Wall Street Crash occurred in October 1929, USA immediately sought after Germany to pay back the loans. This led to the collapse of Germany’s economy once again. Adolf Hitler took this opportunity to begin leading the country.

The Rise of the Nazi Party:

The Nazi party was founded on the 24th of February, 1920. The leader of this party, Adolf Hitler, forced the party to adopt the ‘Fuhrer Principle’. The Fuhrer Principle was a simple concept or belief that Hitler had all the answers to Germany’s problems and everyone should listen to all his orders. This allowed Hitler to have complete rule over the Nazi party as no one could question his ideology.

What allowed Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party to gain recognition and power was the Wall Street Crash in 1929. The Nazi party was able to gain more votes because Hitler used the Jews as a scapegoat and blamed them for all of Germany’s issues. He was able to convince many Germans that the reason behind Germany’s economic state was due to the Jewish people because of the disproportional number of wealthy Jewish business owners. By March of 1933, Hitler had total control over the country of Germany.

The Holocaust:

With the rise of power of the Nazi party, their beliefs were spread throughout Germany as well. The Nazis believed that Germans were superior to the Jewish which resulted in the discrimination and racism against the Jews. Slowly, the Nazi’s began to force Jews into a corner, laws were created to push Jews out of their civil jobs, they had their businesses taken away or forced them to sell their goods at an extremely low rate. However, Jewish people were not the only ones receiving these harsh treatments, other groups which Hitler considered inferior to Germans or not a ‘pure German’ received similar treatment as well. The targeted groups includes: Roma(Gypsies), Slavic peoples (poles, Russians, etc.), the disabled, Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witness, as well as homosexuals.

The Jews were also slowly being taken and sent to concentration camps and many Jews wanted to escape from Germany. Once the war started, most of the remaining Jews were taken to the concentration camps in Auschwitz. There, the Jews were starved and overworked and many died because of this. Finally, the Germans decided to deploy their “Final Solution” which was the term the Germans used for the genocide of the Jewish people. The Jews were sent to killing centers, a place developed for efficient mass murder.

The result of the holocaust was the death of nearly 6 million Jews, over 3 million Soviet prisoners, around 70 thousand civilians with a mental or physical disability, and many others.

(A picture of the Auschwitz concentration camp)

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Maus: Significance of the Title

The title of the memoir, Maus: A Survivor's Tale has two different parts in its meaning. The first part is “maus” which is the German word for mouse. In the memoir, all the Jewish people are all portrayed as mice while the Nazis are shown as cats. This immediately gives a visual representation of the difference between the two classes, as cats are known to hunt down mice. The second part of the title, “A Survivor’s Tale” is simply there to let the reader know that the story is from the perspective of a survivor of the holocaust. I think this title is very clever as it perfectly represents the Jews (the mice) and how they had to hide in fear of the Nazis (the cats) during the second world war.

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Maus: Images

“Comics are a narrative art form, a form that combines two other forms of expression: words and pictures” -Art Spiegelman.

“Maus” is a graphic novel illustrating his father’s memories and experiences during the holocaust with significant amount of scenes regarding their relationship as father and son. The comic’s unique style invites one to experience many historic events in a humorous fashion although many scenes represented horrific events.

Spiegelman's art style was highly influenced and inspired by Harvey Kurtzman, a cartoonist and editor, and Frans Masereel, a painter and graphic artist. Harvey Kurtzman was known for his comedic comic called “Mad” which “challenged the repressive status quo in the early 1950s by satirizing cultural figures, politicians and rampant consumerism” (Steven Heller). Heller also drew war comics with extensive background research for each story and often use controversial topics. Spiegelman took inspiration to create a graphic novel that could represent serious historic events through a humorous and playful mannerism. Although the story is real, the animals he uses makes it playful and inviting but in reality it provokes one to think about the deeper meaning and relationship between each animal.

Masereel was a known painter and graphic artist inspired Spiegelman with his wordless comics. The comics were illustrated using a method called woodblock printing: a wooden block would have negative space cut out and used as a stamp which translated into a picture. This created blocky textures with black and negative space that defined the shapes of each object. Spiegelman adopted this style when creating “Maus” but rather than use wooden blocks, drew each picture and added more detail through the repetition of lines. This enhanced the intensity of a scene depending how chaotic the lines were.