Art Spiegelman

Acclaimed as a quiet triumph and a brutally moving work of art, the first volume of Art Spieglman's Maus introduced readers to Vladek Spiegleman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist trying to come to terms with his father, his father's terrifying story, and History itself. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiararity with the events described, approaching, as it does, the unspeakable through the diminutive. This second volume, subtitled And Here My Troubles Began, moves us from the barracks of Auschwitz to the bungalows of the Catskills. Genuinely tragic and comic by turns, it attains a complexity of theme and a precision of thought new to comics and rare in any medium. Maus ties together two powerful stories: Vladek's harrowing tale of survival against all odds, delineating the paradox of daily life in the death camps, and the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. At every level this is the ultimate survivor's tale - and that too of the children who somehow survive even the survivors.

The first installment of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall Street Journal) and “the first masterpiece in comic book history” (The New Yorker). A brutally moving work of art—widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written—Maus recounts the chilling experiences of the author’s father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats. Maus is a haunting tale within a tale, weaving the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father into an astonishing retelling of one of history's most unspeakable tragedies. It is an unforgettable story of survival and a disarming look at the legacy of trauma.

On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of its first publication, here is the definitive edition of the book acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall Street Journal) and “the first masterpiece in comic book history” (The New Yorker). The Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father’s story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), shocks us out of any lingering sense of familiarity and succeeds in “drawing us closer to the bleak heart of the Holocaust” (The New York Times). Maus is a haunting tale within a tale. Vladek’s harrowing story of survival is woven into the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits. This astonishing retelling of our century’s grisliest news is a story of survival, not only of Vladek but of the children who survive even the survivors. Maus studies the bloody pawprints of history and tracks its meaning for all of us.

On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of its first publication, here is the definitive edition of the book acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall Street Journal) and “the first masterpiece in comic book history” (The New Yorker).The Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father’s story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), shocks us out of any lingering sense of familiarity and succeeds in “drawing us closer to the bleak heart of the Holocaust” (The New York Times).Maus is a haunting tale within a tale. Vladek’s harrowing story of survival is woven into the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits. This astonishing retelling of our century’s grisliest news is a story of survival, not only of Vladek but of the children who survive even the survivors. Maus studies the bloody pawprints of history and tracks its meaning for all of us.

Maus is the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father, his father's terrifying story, and History itself. Its form, the cartoon, succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiarity with the events described, approaching, as it does, the unspeakable through the diminutive. It is, as the New York Times Book Review has commented, "a remarkable feat of documentary detail and novelistic vividness...an unfolding literary event." Moving back and forth from Poland to Rego Park, New York, Maus tells two powerful stories: the first is Spiegelman's father's account of how he and his wife survived Hitler's Europe, a harrowing tale filled with countless brushes with death, improbable escapes, and the terror of confinement and betrayal. The second is the author's tortured relationship with his aging father as they try to lead a normal life of minor arguments and passing visits against a backdrop of history too large to pacify. At all levels, this is the ultimate survivor's tale - and that, too, of the children who somehow survive even the survivors. Part I of Maus takes Spiegelman's parents to the gates of Auschwitz and him to the edge of despair. Put aside all your preconceptions. These cats and mice are not Tom and Jerry, but something quite different. This is a new kind of literature.

"Una obra de arte brutalmente conmovedora." Boston Globe "Quizá ninguna narración del Holocausto contendrá jamás toda la experiencia. Pero Art Spiegelman ha encontrado una forma auténtica y original de acercarnos a su corazón desnudos." The New York Times "Un triunfo sobrio, simple y conmovedor, imposible de describir con precisión e imposible de lograr en cualquier otro medio que no sea la historieta." The Washington Post "Art Spiegelman quiso describir lo indecible... una obra maestra." L'Express, París

Catastrophic, world-altering events like the September 11 attacks on the United States place the millions of us who experience them on the "fault line where world history and personal history collide." Most of us, however, cannot document that intersection with the force, compression, and poignancy expressed in Art Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers. As in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus, cartoonist Spiegelman presents a highly personalized, political, and confessional diary of his experience of September 11 and its aftermath. In 10 large-scale pages of original, hard-hitting material (composed from September 11, 2001 to August 31, 2003), two essays, and 10 old comic strip reproductions from the early 20th century, Spiegelman expresses his feelings of dislocation, grief, anxiety, and outrage over the horror of the attacks—and the subsequent "hijacking" of the event by the Bush administration to serve what he believes is a misguided and immoral political agenda. Readers who agree with Spiegelman's point of view will marvel at the brilliance of his images and the wit and accuracy of his commentary. Others, no doubt, will be jolted by his candor and, perhaps, be challenged to reexamine their position. The central image in the sequence of original broadsides, which returns as a leitmotif in each strip, is Spiegelman's Impressionistic "vision of disintegration," of the North Tower, its "glowing bones...just before it vaporized." (As downtown New Yorkers, Spiegelman and his family experienced the event firsthand.) But the images and styles in the book are as fragmentary and ever-shifting as Spiegelman's reflections and reactions. The author's closing comment that "The towers have come to loom far larger than life...but they seem to get smaller every day" reflects a larger and more chilling irony that permeates In the Shadow of No Towers. Despite the ephemeral nature of the comic strip form, the old comics at the back of the book have outlasted the seemingly indestructible towers. In the same way, Spiegelman's heartfelt impressions have immortalized the towers that, imponderably, have now vanished. —Silvana Tropea

«Маус» — автобіографічна розповідь нью-йоркського художника-інтелектуала Арта Шпіґельмана, що його батьки, польські євреї, пережили свого часу Голокост. І формула «свого часу» тут є великою умовністю, адже мовби передбачає, що головний герой, альтер еґо автора, живе вже в іншому часі (мирному, повоєнному, віддаленому від злочинів минулого). Насправді ж історичний досвід значно ближче, ніж хочеться сподіватися, від нього не втекти, адже всі ми на великий відсоток складаємося з історії — великої й малої, родинної. Минуле накопичується, вирує, проростає в теперішнє (і дим від крематорію Аушвіцу, про який батько головного героя розповідає в одному кадрі, вже в наступному кадрі зливається з димом від цигарки оповідача). Значною мірою, «Маус» досліджує саме те, як можна приручити минуле і жити з ним далі. Головний герой «Мауса» розпитує батька про довоєнне життя і досвід під час Голокосту, щоб створити про це комікс. «Маус» — один із найцікавіших літературних текстів про травму другого-третього покоління після катастрофи, про тих, хто виріс у тіні чужого болю й намагається привласнити й переповісти по-своєму досвід, що опирається оповіданню, знайшовший власний голос, всупереч тиску традиції. У нашому закутку Європи між великими історичними травмами ніколи не минало більше кількох поколінь, а в нас травматичний досвід тих, кого особисто не зачепила трагедія, але кому все одно доведеться жити із провиною вцілілого і жахом секонд-генд, проговорено мало, тож «Маус» не лише актуальний для багатьох, якщо не всіх потенційних читачів, а й заповнює напівпорожню нішу. «Маус» — єдиний на сьогодні комікс, що здобув Пулітцерівську премію, й один із перших, що привернув широку увагу дослідників, ставши певною віхою в історії цього медіуму. Крім того, доти українському читачеві були доступні здебільшого американські мейнстримові комікси, а «Маус» познайомить із андеґраундним коміксом, з його окремішньою естетикою й художньою генеалогією".

MAUS was the first half of the tale of survival of the author's parents, charting their desperate progress from prewar Poland Auschwitz. Here is the continuation, in which the father survives the camp and is at last reunited with his wife.

Maus ("rato", em alemão) é a história de Vladek Spiegelman, judeu-polonês que sobreviveu ao campo de concentração de Auschwitz, narrada por ele próprio ao filho Art. O livro é considerado um clássico contemporâneo das histórias em quadrinhos. Foi publicado em duas partes, a primeira em 1986 e a segunda em 1991. No ano seguinte, Maus ganhou o prestigioso Prêmio Pulitzer de literatura. A obra é um sucesso estrondoso de público e de crítica. Desde que foi lançada, tem sido objeto de estudos e análises de especialistas de diversas áreas -história, literatura, artes e psicologia. Em nova tradução, o livro é agora relançado com as duas partes reunidas num só volume. Nas tiras, os judeus são desenhados como ratos e os nazistas ganham feições de gatos; poloneses não-judeus são porcos e americanos, cachorros. Esse recurso, aliado à ausência de cor dos quadrinhos, reflete o espírito do livro: trata-se de um relato incisivo e perturbador, que evidencia a brutalidade da catástrofe do Holocausto. Spiegelman, porém, evita o sentimentalismo e interrompe algumas vezes a narrativa para dar espaço a dúvidas e inquietações. É implacável com o protagonista, seu próprio pai, retratado como valoroso e destemido, mas também como sovina, racista e mesquinho. De vários pontos de vista, uma obra sem equivalente no universo dos quadrinhos e um relato histórico de valor inestimável.

La radicalidad narrativa de esta obra marca un antes y un después en el universo de la novela gráfica. Maus es la biografía de Vladek Spiegelman, un judío polaco superviviente de los campos de exterminio nazis, contada a través de su hijo Art, un dibujante de cómics que quiere dejar memoria de la aterradora persecución que sufrieron millones de personas en la Europa sometida por Hitler y de las consecuencias de este sufrimiento en la vida cotidiana de las generaciones posteriores. Apartándose de las formas de literatura creadas hasta la publicación de Maus, Art Spiegelman se aproxima al tema del Holocausto de un modo absolutamente renovador, y para ello relata la experiencia de su propia familia en forma de memoria gráfica, utilizando todos los recursos estilísticos y narrativos tradicionales de este género y, a la vez, inventando otros nuevos. La radicalidad narrativa de esta obra marcó un antes y un después en el universo de la novela gráfica, y por ello Maus obtuvo el primer y único premio Pulitzer otorgado a un cómic. Se publicó inicialmente en dos partes: 'Mi padre sangra historia (My Father Bleeds History, 1986) e 'Y allí empezaron mis problemas (And Here My Troubles Began, 1991)', integrándose finalmente en un único volumen.

Maus raconte la vie de Vladek Spiegelman, rescapé juif des camps nazis, et de son fils, auteur de bandes dessinées, qui cherche un terrain de réconciliation avec son père, sa terrifiante histoire et l'Histoire. Des portes d'Auschwitz aux trottoirs de New York se déroule en deux temps (les années 30 et les années 70) le récit d'une double survie : celle du père, mais aussi celle du fils, qui se débat pour survivre au survivant. Ici, les Nazis sont des chats et les Juifs des souris.

Maus powszechnie jest uważany za najważniejszy komiks w historii. Art Spiegelman w formie powieści graficznej opowiedział historię życia swojego ojca, więźnia Auschwitz, Władka Szpigelmana. Równolegle z nią w Mausie sportretował trudy życia z ojcem - Ocalałym z Holocaustu. Maus to jedna z najważniejszych opowieści o Holokauście, stawiająca trudne pytania, na które Autor próbuje znaleźć odpowiedź w nowatorski sposób. Umiejscawiając realistyczną opowieść w komiksowym medium, stosując przerysowanie i karykaturę, Art Spiegelman zbliżył się, jak nikt inny przed nim, do ukazania swoistej niewyrażalności, monstrualności Holokaustu, a poprzez autobiograficzne odniesienia wytworzył napięcie cechujące najwybitniejsze dzieła literackie. Żaden komiks w historii tego medium nie doczekał się tylu recenzji - również negatywnych i polemicznych – a przyznanie Spiegelmanowi nagród do tej pory zarezerwowanych dla literatury poważnej (m.in.: National Book Critics Circle Award, Pulitzer Prize), ułatwiło wielu twórcom powieści graficznych dotarcie do czytelników do tej pory unikających komiksów. Jednocześnie Maus stał się komiksem wzorem, pierwszym komiksowym arcydziełem ("The New Yorker"), z którym krytycy i czytelnicy zestawiają inne dzieła komiksowe, zwłaszcza biograficzne i historyczne.