Maus I & Maus II
There is no single word in the English Language to convey the meaning ‘to die of thirst.’ While dehydration can be a cause of death, it has other meanings and other outcomes. Its meaning does not elicited the proper understanding. While other languages have specific words for this phenomena, I find this gap in our vocabulary to be an excellent example of our inability to communicate the weight and immensity of so many things. There are things so beautiful, so horrible, and so complex that no single word can convey its meaning or significance. I think Maus I & Maus II show just this.
Maus, a personal and familial memoir by Art Spiegelman, depicts a young graphic novelist learning about the holocaust and his family’s heritage through the eyes of his father. Maus shows the relationship between our family histories and our present lives, and how this relationship effects the world around us.
While acclaimed by critics and awarded numerous literary prizes, you probably won’t find Maus at your local neighborhood book retailer. The method and medium used to write this work have been the topic of much controversy and many bookstores are erring on the side of caution. Graphic novels are usually associated with Marvel’s action figure comics, but post modern authors are turning it into a meaty medium.
I found that Art Spiegelman’s work Maus I & Maus II, with its heavy content presented in a traditionally light-hearted form, served to further convey the sense of horror and pain wrought by human destruction. For me, this artistic collision of dichotomies made the story more powerful than a traditional novel might otherwise have been able to. There aren’t words for some horrors, for some experiences, and I think Maus beautifully portrays not only the disconnect between life and our ability to express it, but between life and our ability to control it.
Is Art Spiegelman an artist purveying graphic art along the pathway toward a serious medium? The set is available online and I’d be pleased to hear what you thought of it.
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