The Complete Maus: A Book Review

Maus, written by Art Spiegelman, is a graphic novel, published in completion in 1991 at the timeof unfolding of another historical event. It gained significant academic interest as soon as it was released, and went on to receive many awards and accolades, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1992.

Drawn into the drawings of Spiegelman, one is immersed in a world long left behind in theory. Spiegelman, represents his Jews as Mice, directly borrowing here, from the Nazi propaganda films that depicted Jews as vermin, which he puts to his advantage. One comes across Artie, a representation of the author himself, as he sets forth to interview his father, Vladek, about his days surviving, under the Nazi regime. It’s the mid-1930s, fascism in Germany is on the rise, as the Nazis, represented here as Cats, are gaining power, fast, and making changes suited to them. Spiegelman, in this very personal piece, continues to depict people through animals, the Polish as Pigs and the Americans as dogs. However, they remain terrifyingly human. Travelling through narratives, and years of discontent, one sees the rift between Artie (Spiegelman himself) and his father, Vladek, deepen reflecting the stereotypical position that politics ruins everything. And if personal is political, and it always is, the destruction becomes even more evident.

Spiegelman’s postmodern approach while writing Maus, and also the very Orwellian way in which Spiegelman draws the story means that it speaks differently to different people. Maus is a story feeding on itself, telling the story of how the story was made. The way he decides to interpret and retell his father’s memories, for instance, through his own artistic choices, leaves one with more thought than expected. For example, in Vladek and his wife, Anja’s representation while disguising as a Pole. The differences are subtle, but reflective and hard-hitting. Which is exactly how Maus, the novel, is. However, it’s more. It’s a story rooted in reality, while at the same time, a story full of subtleties, and yet as direct as it can be; a story of power, of weakness, of discrimination, exploitation, greed, inhumanity and completely, of humanity. It’s full of contradictions, and full of life, despite being one of the darkest graphic novels covering the world’s darkest times.

There’s a lot left in mind, especially after you finish reading the book. Feelings and emotions of all kind, that might have been buried deep down, emerges anew with a thirst to express. Reading Maus changed my life, and that is the first thing that comes into my mind as I think about it even now. There’s a lot left to understand, a lot left to express, a lot left to learn, and with every read, you do all these a little more. Living in a time, where one sees fascist thoughts breathing and taking a new life, hope becomes a luxury, associated with privilege. And yet, hope and reason can change the course of humanity and the world we live in. But that’s not what Spiegelman is asking of us here, it is not his concern directly. His novel raises questions, guilt, and a hopelessness that sparks up hope in the minds of people, influencing them, as we realise the sensitivities and insensitivities of life, and now it is upon us to make the best of it as we lead our day to day lives. It’s not for anything that Maus was the first graphic novel ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. For sometimes, the darkest and most real representation of society comes from nowhere but a mere, unsuspecting, comic book, that most would rather not acknowledge.

Ishani Ray

Intern, AGA

27th April 2019

References:

1. The Complete Maus, Art Spiegelman, 1991
2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/08/11/why-maus-remains-the-greatest-graphic-novel-ever-written-30-years-later/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b5dd189f5dc0
3. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/book-of-a-lifetime-maus-by-art-spiegelman-8432097.html
4. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/book-of-a-lifetime-maus-by-art-spiegelman-8432097.html