Picking up Maus today, it's difficult to understand how a work of such immediacy could have been first published a full twenty-five years ago. Now on that anniversary, Art Spiegelman, its creator, describes how this graphic novel Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece emerged from his father's memories of his family's Holocaust history. MetaMaus earns its title with a breathtaking multimedia assemblage. In addition to the profusely illustrated 300-page book of interviews, photos, and pictures, the package includes a DVD that contains a dizzying wealth of materials, including 7,500 drawings and sketches. An unforgettable tribute to an unforgettable book.
Everything you ever wanted to know about the creation, impact and aftereffects ofMaus.
The cultural significance of the Pulitzer Prize–winning work by Spiegelman(In the Shadow of No Towers,2004) is beyond dispute. Not only did it establish the critical respectability and mainstream market for what have come to be called "graphic novels," but its unsentimental account of family tragedy and dynamics showed a way that art could deal with death-camp genocide without descending into what the author terms "Holokitsch." On the 25th anniversary of the publication ofMaus I,this volume serves as the publishing industry's version what the music industry markets as a box set—with extended bonus material, contextual analyses and previously unreleased cuts (some 7,500 drawings and sketches are but a small fraction of the offerings on the accompanying DVD). Included within the book are an exhaustive interview with the author by English professor Harriet Chute, shorter (but not short) interviews with his wife and their offspring on the artist and his art, plenty of illustrations from sketchbooks and inspirations, family photos, family trees, rejection letters (from major publishers), the source-material transcript of the author's discussions with his father about the latter's experiences in Auschwitz and Dachau and the original three-page version of "Maus" from 1972 that spawned the two-volume masterpiece. For Spiegelman, the key questions to address (at length) provide chapter titles: "Why the Holocaust?"; "Why Mice?"; "Why Comics?" The answers are intermittently fascinating and often provocative, though only an obsessive or an academic is likely to need a two-page response to the question: "You kept lots of pictures of mice and other animals around while you were working. Which ones were especially significant?" Yet the accompanying DVD will satisfy the insatiable appetite, with "a digital reference copy of The Complete Maus" (with audio and visual links) plus "MetaMeta" supplements that make the printed volume seem like an appetizer.
The power ofMausdoesn't require such exhaustive explanation and annotation, but those with a taste for it will find their appreciation enhanced.
…richly rewarding…MetaMaus consists primarily of an expansive, fascinating interview with Spiegelman conducted by Hillary Chute, a scholar of contemporary comics…The beautifully designed hardcover also includes abundant archival material, conversations with Spiegelman's wife…and children, and transcripts of his original sessions with [his father] Vladek…This book also serves as a master class on the making and reading of comics, highlighted by Spiegelman's close analyses of dozens of important points in the text.
—The New York Times Book Review
Mr. Spiegelman’s new book, MetaMaus, functions as a kind of artist's scrapbook, chapbook, photo album and storage trunk…His publisher calls this shaggily engaging volume, accurately enough, a "vast Maus midrash"…Mr. Spiegelman is charismatic, and the photographs of him sprinkled throughout are pretty delightful.
—The New York Times
Richly rewarding…The book also serves as a master class on the making and reading of comics…The last frame encapsulates in one single moment the artfulness behind the tale we’ve just read, and the uneasy combination of filial pride and anger that flowed through Maus and flows through Metamaus as well.” –The New York Times Book Review
“As a floor plan for endless exploration, it is the Haus That “Maus” Built…Pick any page and gaze. The windows into these stories about the story are to be found at every turn, filling the space with insightful light.” –Washington Post’s Comic Riffs
“Art Spiegelman has done more than any other writer of the last few decades to change our understanding of the way stories about the Holocaust can be written…MetaMaus is a profound meditation on the meaning of sources and the uses we make of them.” –The New Republic
“A fascinating meditation on art, writing, and one of the darkest periods in human history.” –The Atlantic
“Mr. Spiegelman’s new book, MetaMaus, functions as a kind of artist’s scrapbook, chapbook, photo album and storage trunk . . . Mr. Spiegelman is a witty and testy raconteur, and Ms. Chute knows a good deal about comics and she pulls good things from him . . . . Spiegelman is charismatic, and the photographs of him sprinkled throughout are pretty delightful.” –New York Times
“Few books have made as much impact as Maus has. MetaMaus explores this impact, as well as providing some of the original notebook material on the graphic novels…[contains] the single most powerful graphic representation of the effects of the Holocaust…If you are serious about comics or the Holocaust, this book should be on your shelf.” –San Francisco Book Review
“Each page is more beautiful than the next . . . you’ll find yourself as engrossed in it as you were in Maus.” –Jewish Book Council Blog
“MetaMaus is an intriguing look into the guts of a massive artistic-historical project. With its visual, textual and historical components, the book untangles the tight narrative and visual knots into which the medium, the message and the process of Maus are tied. With grist to millers of either Maus, Spiegelman or both, it is a must-have item.” –Forward
“MetaMaus will leave even the most ardent admirers of Maus newly in awe of its author's creative courage, ingenuity and stamina.” –San Francisco Chronicle
“At the risk of ruffling Donald's feathers, it could be argued that Maus, Art Spiegelman's aching Holocaust tale, is as compelling a comics creation as the best of Mickey. MetaMaus details the back story and making of Spiegelman's masterpiece.” –NPR.org
