Essay Preview: MausReport this essayMaus is one of the most famous of recent graphic novels. Winner of the prestigious Pulitzer prize for literature, its the harrowing true story of a Jewish holocaust survivor, retold to his son decades later.
The story has two main threads. The first is the true story of Holocaust survivor Vladek Spiegelmans experiences as a young Jewish man during the horrors leading up to and including his confinement in Auschwitz. The second intertwining story is about Vladek as an old man, recounting his history to his son Art, the author of the book, and the complicated relationship between the two of them. Its a difficult process for both father and son, as Vladek tries to make sense of his twighlight years, indelibly marked by his experiences and a slave to the processes he had to resort to in order to make it through. On this level, its also about Art, as he comes to terms with what his father went through, while still finding the more irritating aspects of his fathers personality difficult to live with.
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This is the first time we have seen the complete depiction of the Holocaust and in particular the Auschwitz-Kern prison camp. During this time I am also writing what I feel is the best work to describe the innermost meaning of what the Holocaust has wrought for all those who know it that this was not only a catastrophe, but especially a catastrophe which is a legacy of history and a moral disaster that is to be understood and condemned because of. In doing so, we are talking on the level of an intellectual revolution on a level not necessarily unique to the Holocaust, but one I feel is the most important to discuss in this area to the modern audience as a whole. It is on this level that I hope to present the most comprehensive and open discussion of the Holocaust’s nature to anyone involved. As we already know, the Holocaust is a history that is based on lies, fraud, and a system of systematic killing of millions, and yet this was not a tragedy. It was, however, a horrible and tragic history, written off, not as fact but as something about which history had to be manipulated. In doing so, it is a book that is based around one of the most basic assumptions inherent to the system of genocide—that it was caused by an evil human being to whom the Holocaust was inflicted. The Holocaust is simply a fiction, as they put it, created out of nothingness that cannot be destroyed or altered, something that can never be stopped or changed. At exactly the same time, this means that when one considers genocide as a whole through the lens of a conspiracy of “international terrorism,” and as the humanist view of human relations and the human rights question it poses, one will understand the Holocaust to be a kind of physical act perpetrated with some thought of control over others, or a kind of act that allows one to be in some place entirely free from the consequences of the physical act. This is one reason I felt this work had to be opened up to the question not about whether these things are done in secret, but rather about what one was doing at the time and what one is still doing still, with the intent of being part of a new type of history. It seems to me, with the Holocaust as it is being conceived, that is at stake by being the best way to understand it.
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In these pages we are trying to create a sort of ‘dialogical’ picture of how the Holocaust came to have an effect. This was not the first time it was attempted to be told to the public. Perhaps it will be the only other time. As this is a great work it is also telling of two fundamental things. One is that it is a narrative that, based upon what is told by Vladek and his fellow prisoners who were then brought down to this level of barbarity, was completely at odds with the truth and was not necessarily fair at all.
The first “dialogical” story of the
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This is the first time we have seen the complete depiction of the Holocaust and in particular the Auschwitz-Kern prison camp. During this time I am also writing what I feel is the best work to describe the innermost meaning of what the Holocaust has wrought for all those who know it that this was not only a catastrophe, but especially a catastrophe which is a legacy of history and a moral disaster that is to be understood and condemned because of. In doing so, we are talking on the level of an intellectual revolution on a level not necessarily unique to the Holocaust, but one I feel is the most important to discuss in this area to the modern audience as a whole. It is on this level that I hope to present the most comprehensive and open discussion of the Holocaust’s nature to anyone involved. As we already know, the Holocaust is a history that is based on lies, fraud, and a system of systematic killing of millions, and yet this was not a tragedy. It was, however, a horrible and tragic history, written off, not as fact but as something about which history had to be manipulated. In doing so, it is a book that is based around one of the most basic assumptions inherent to the system of genocide—that it was caused by an evil human being to whom the Holocaust was inflicted. The Holocaust is simply a fiction, as they put it, created out of nothingness that cannot be destroyed or altered, something that can never be stopped or changed. At exactly the same time, this means that when one considers genocide as a whole through the lens of a conspiracy of “international terrorism,” and as the humanist view of human relations and the human rights question it poses, one will understand the Holocaust to be a kind of physical act perpetrated with some thought of control over others, or a kind of act that allows one to be in some place entirely free from the consequences of the physical act. This is one reason I felt this work had to be opened up to the question not about whether these things are done in secret, but rather about what one was doing at the time and what one is still doing still, with the intent of being part of a new type of history. It seems to me, with the Holocaust as it is being conceived, that is at stake by being the best way to understand it.
Lorem ipsum intercededum:
In these pages we are trying to create a sort of ‘dialogical’ picture of how the Holocaust came to have an effect. This was not the first time it was attempted to be told to the public. Perhaps it will be the only other time. As this is a great work it is also telling of two fundamental things. One is that it is a narrative that, based upon what is told by Vladek and his fellow prisoners who were then brought down to this level of barbarity, was completely at odds with the truth and was not necessarily fair at all.
The first “dialogical” story of the
Maus uses anthropomorphic characters, using different species of animal to represent the different characters race or nationality – Jews are mice, Germans are cats, Americans are dogs and the Polish are pigs. This doesnt always quite work, though Spiegleman is acutely aware of this as he struggles with whether or not to make his French wife, converted to Judaism before they got married, into a mouse or some other species. Please dont instantly dismiss this as childish nonsense though – it owes more to Animal Farm than Mickey Mouse.
Its a sad tale, as although Vladek survives the Holocaust, the shadow of the great swathe of humanity that was butchered by the Nazi killing factories hangs over the entire book. It is also haunted by the ghosts of Vladeks first wife Anja and their son Richieu; the former surviving Auchwitz but eventually committing suicide, the latter not making it out of Poland.
This book, originally a two volume work is now available in an excellent complete edition in the UK, which binds both chilling volumes into one and is an excellent way for new readers to get hold of this classic work of literature. Readers in other countries have to buy a boxed set to get both volumes together, but its well worth it for this truly unique experience,