Week 7: Maus and the Legitimization of the Graphic Novel

This week we looked into Art Spiegelman’s Maus and the legitimization of the graphic novel.  This iconic work served to create a foundation for the acceptance of the graphic novel in the mainstream literary market.  So acclaimed it was that it was brought to many school class curriculums and was reviewed in major magazines and newspapers.  Breaking away from the “underground comics” scene, the era of more serious and artful comics that Spiegelman pioneered with Maus led to a popular response from the general audience and an overall acceptance of the graphic novel as a legit literary art form, and also a potentially useful learning mechanism for children and young adults.  But not only do the young ones get to enjoy this work, but also older adults can obtain great entertainment from reading Maus. 

World War II was one of the most tragic times in human history, needless to say.  That is why whenever somebody touches the subject, be it in a literary, illustrative, or other type of way there is certain respect that must be taken.  There are still survivors of the Holocaust that are still alive, and countless families with some relation back to those times.  So my initial thought was of confusion, to think that a graphic novel with mouse-people could’ve been any type of respectful way to depict a Holocaust survival story.  This fact did raise many eyebrows and bad criticism at the time of its publishing.  But the fact that a Pulitzer prize was given to Spiegelman made me reconsider my first judgment of the novel, and after reading it I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Maus takes you back in time.  It’s funny because you wouldn’t think so, with Spiegelman’s cartoony style.  But from the first page, the simple, yet real dialogue just grabs you.  I really enjoyed the way that Spiegelman wrote the dialogue of the older Jewish characters, because even though there are messed up words and broken sentences, it is real.  There’s something about being authentic that just goes a long way, no matter what realm of art you’re working in.  Also, in any other context I would have probably hated Spiegelman’s illustrations.  But they go perfectly with the story.  Spiegelman’s style is gritty, sketchy, imperfect, squiggly black and white.  Not really my cup of tea, but it just fits.  The panels look like they were originally drawn on the back of napkins at a bar, but for that same reason they go with the story.  The consistency of his style helps create an older, grittier mood, that relates to wartime in the 1930’s eastern Europe.  This is something that through this literature of comic books class has changed a bit with me, because from now on I will give equal weight to the storyline as I do the illustration work.  Even though I will always be partial to the illustration work, being an artist myself.  But Maus is one of those few works that brings a great story through simple panel works.  It is a moving and emotional production that will stand the test of time as one of the more artistically important tributes ever made to the story of Holocaust survivors.