Week 7: Maus


Maus was written over a period of thirteen years and was originally published in two volumes. The work received a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992 and Art Spiegelman has received a number of other awards for Maus as well as his other work. Spiegelman became an influential figure in underground comix during the 1960-70’s founding publications such as Arcade and Raw. It was in Raw that images of Maus first appeared. Spiegelman is a huge advocate of comics and has even taught courses on the subject. He still writes and one of his recent publications included In the Shadow of No Towers, about his experience of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.        
Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman’s experiences in Poland during the 1930-40’s, as the Nazis came to power and swept across Europe. At the same time, Art Spiegelman tells his own story focusing on his broken relationship with his father as he tries to find out about his past. The story is chronological, but goes back and forth between talking about Vladek’s story and the present moment when he is telling his story to Art. Art also inserts episodes when he contemplates the type of project he is engaged in and questions himself on whether he is right for the task of telling this story. To this day Maus continues to be one of the most acclaimed graphic novels of all time.

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