I got this box set from my mother when I last visited her. I had never heard of this comic book, Maus, and was a little wary of the big swastika and mice in camp uniforms on the cover. I remember thinking that a comic book about the Holocaust just seemed wrong.
Heidi told me that these books were well known and critically acclaimed. After finishing the second volume tonight, I can see why. The books relate the author’s process of writing a comic book about his parents and World War II. The Spiegelmans were Holocaust survivors, Polish Jews who through luck, skill, and shrewdness survived. The depth of the story is incredible, conveying the difficult relationship between the author and his father, telling the father’s story during the Holocaust, and exploring the author’s own emotional struggles with writing this story, his father, his mother’s suicide, and describing the horror’s of the Holocaust itself.
I found a couple of sites that go into the scholarship that has come up around these books. One seems to be an abandoned Geocities page listing a number of papers and studies analyzing the text, along with interviews with the author. The other site is an interesting paper examining how the author and people work through personal traumas. One other site that seemed interesting was this analysis of the books for a class on illustrated books.
May 13th, 2005 at 8:56 pm
yeah, definitely graphic novel. I liked the second book, but not as much as the story itself. The first book was just incredible. As I said, if you liked it, check out In the Shadow of No Towers.
May 14th, 2005 at 10:44 am
This is Heidi
As Sujal mentioned, when he said swastika on the cover, I knew it had to be Maus. I’d say it’s a graphic novel partly b/c of size, partly quality.
Frank Miller is also the father of the graphic novel — but his writng is very different.
I say the NYC book and took a long look at it, it also looks intereinsting. I saw an interesting lecture on Maus and another artist — this guy too polaroids of plastic toy soldiers from WWII. It was supposed to be reminiscent of the photos taken in the camps.
anyway — Sujal is whisking me awsay. I need to go.
July 19th, 2005 at 2:40 pm
Maus is just one of about 100 comic books / comix / graphic novel stories that have depicted the Holocaust since the 1940’s. I use that number because I’ve been preparing material for a local (Toronto) exhibition that will be on during Holocaust Education Week.
Here are the addresses for 5 comics which can be read online (fair warning : the last one can be classed as hate literature) :
http://es.geocities.com/thegweb/berniekrigstein1.html
http://superman.ws/tales2/thesuperman/2/
http://superman.ws/tales2/thesuperman/3/
http://www.blackglasspress.com/OMB/OMB-1.html
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0054/0054_01.asp
July 19th, 2005 at 2:49 pm
I feel dumb asking this, but when is Holocaust Education Week? Is this just Canadian or a world wide thing?
August 25th, 2005 at 9:12 am
Sorry, Sujal.
I don’t visit this blog regularly. I stumbled upon it (back in June) and just now stumbled upon it again.
The only other city I know of that has a full week of Holocaust events is Morristown, NJ — sp[ecifically at the College of Saint Elizabeth. There are Holocaust commemoration days in many major cities, the 2 most commonly known ones are the Kristallnacht remembrance (Nov. 9th) and Yom Ha-Shoah (observed on the 27th of Nissan in the Hebrew calendar).
In Toronto, Holocaust Education Week will begin this year on Oct. 27th and end on Nov. 9th.
December 21st, 2005 at 2:33 am
Bengali writer Subimal Misra
Dear Friends
I recently began translating the short stories of Subimal Misra, a critically acclaimed Bengali writer of India.
I am also keen to work with talented and imaginative illustrators / graphic artists to produce graphic versions of the stories. Possessing a strong visual (cinematic) quality, they do appear to lend themselves to such graphic treatment. So I invite the interest and collaboration of graphic artists.
Misra (1943 -) has been writing for almost 40 years, and has published his writings only in non-commercial publications (”little magazines”). He has himself published his books of stories, novels, and essays. He disavows copyright (for non-commercial use). There is no price for the books, only a contribution of whatever the buyer considers appropriate for this book. If a buyer is dissatisfied with the book he can get his money back.
Misra is the leading anti-establishment figure in contemporary Bengali literature, and the father of the experimental novel in Bangla. He is a very erudite scholar and cineaste. His writings over the years also move from the traditional forms to the completely experimental, the merging of fiction and non-fiction, and the very form of the book and even typography are played with.
Critic and writer Mrinal Bose says: “Reading Subimal Misra has always been a learning experience for me. Of late Bengali authors are fast disappearing from my reading list. But Subimal Misra stays on - with glory intact. His strength as a writer is his irreverent and blasphemous voice and his ruthless and uncompromising portrayal of our life and times.”
But Subimal Misra’s name is hardly known even in the reading public at large in Calcutta. His books are not easily available. His stories have appeared only in small circulation magazines outside the commercial market.
My translation project has the approval of Misra. I have so far translated 5 short stories, all from his early writing period (late 60s). I would be happy to share these - still in pre-publication draft form - with anyone who is interested. I also have the original Bangla transcribed (in Roman / English), for those who might want to read the original.
I would be happy to receive feedback, on my translation as well as the stories.
V Ramaswamy
Calcutta
hpp@vsnl.com