Spiegelman has given a number of interviews, but his NPR material is particularly interesting. Click here to listen to Spiegelman on the rise of underground comix (like his own RAW) and some audio of Vladek Spiegelman, as well.
I will send my powerpoint via email, since Blogger is not a fan of my posting a document on this site.
Spiegelman fans, also make sure to check out his newer book, In the Shadow of No Towers, written about and in the wake of 9-11. Although the text begins as a book about the fall of the Twin Towers, it ends up becoming a meditation of the comix form and the possibility for visual and literary expression to be commensurate to the task of representing disaster.
Spiegelman seems to be a true artist. His work spans many years and he has done much exploration as an artist. I think it is very interesting that as a teenager he is responsible for the Garbage Pail kids collectors cards from Topps. I loved those cards.
ReplyDeleteI felt conflicted when reading MAUS at the moments when he was interacting with his father Vladek. He didnt place his father on a pedestal and worship him. He told the story of a survivor while at the same time demonstrated how difficult it was to have a relationship with his father. I found his father's tendencies in Maus II to be so protective of anything of value to be reminiscent of the behavior learned that involved even the smallest goods and services as being highly valuable in the camps. You could see in this narrative how Vladek's temperament and shrewdness and natural wit allowed him to survive in a situation that so many others did not.
The fact that Spiegelman took time to glean a story from his father and then to share that story in a medium in a truly original fashion makes for a fascinating read. I think part of what makes this book special is the fact that its part fiction and part nonfiction. Its a story of a family, a people, and a person. I feel much smaller as a person having read this book because I have only ever read impersonal historical accounts of the Holocaust. This was the first time that i have ever encountered a personal story connected with the Holocaust and it was stirring to be shown a story of what it took to survive and what lengths the Germans went to in order to create a truly horrific set of circumstances in the last century.