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Metamaus. Art Spiegelman (Maus)
Visually and emotionally rich, MetaMaus is as groundbreaking as the masterpiece whose creation it reveals.
In the pages of MetaMaus, Art Spiegelman re-enters the Pulitzer prize–winning Maus, the modern classic that has altered how we see literature, comics, and the Holocaust ever since it was first published twenty-five years ago.
He probes the questions that Maus most often
Hardcover, 300 pages
Published
November 1st 2011
by Viking
(first published 2011)
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I was first introduced to the magnificent Maus books when I was doing my student teaching at Shorewood High School in 1994-1995. The faculty had selected it to use as a text in an English course there. I was fascinated by the story and the painstaking attention to detail that Art Spiegelman had infused in his masterpiece. It was such a strange text that included the meta-narrative of Spiegelman's relationship with his mother and father, an interlude, "Prisoner of Hell Planet" that noted and inve...more
I have a (new?) intense admiration for those among us who study and know a thing deeply. Perhaps because librarianship tends to reward broad knowledge, rather than deep, or perhaps because I am at heart lazy, I don't think I know any one thing deeply. This book presents deep understanding of the creation of Maus, which I read before Goodreads could record my reviews. I recognized Maus as important, but my appreciation for it grew as I came to understand the graphic novel form (for which I owe so...more
At first glance, this book basically serves as an in-depth FAQ to Maus. Once you open the book, you're immediately brought into Art Spiegelman's mind and thought process. He describes in rich detail how he is haunted by his most well-known book, Maus and explains why he chose comics as his medium to present his father's story.
Spiegelman discusses the amount of thought he put into the animal metaphor of the Holocaust to drive his point home. For example, he chose to represent Polish people as pi...more
Spiegelman discusses the amount of thought he put into the animal metaphor of the Holocaust to drive his point home. For example, he chose to represent Polish people as pi...more
Fans of Spiegelman's Maus graphic novels will probably be checking out this very dense, fact-filled book, which is primarily an interview with the author about the inspirations behind the ground-breaking Maus. It answers- why the Holocaust, why comics and why mice? His answers are very interesting. There is a lot of information in this book- both its strong point and its weakness. It was information overload; I admit my attention started drifting about three-quarters of the way through, and this...more
I'm a huge fan of Art Spiegelman's Maus books so I expected to love this. I wanted very much to like it but it just seemed like so much of this book was filler (like the interviews with his children) and the publishers marketed it as a moneymaker that would glide by on the success of the previous Maus books. All the different explanations and artistic freedom in interpretation are kind of lost when everything is explained so clearly and exhaustively.
(Just as a side note, I was a little disturbe...more
(Just as a side note, I was a little disturbe...more
Got this out of the library so as to have a light and inconsequential read for the holiday season. It fulfilled that role admirably but it also made me want to read Maus again, which I didn't expect. Spiegelman is good company and often very amusing, but he also takes his work seriously - in this book one often leads to the other. A good example is the case of the German edition of the book. Spiegelman was very particular that all countries would reproduce the cover art exactly, which was a bit...more
Sometimes I feel like a good graphic novel is a lot like pornography--I don't know how to define it, but I know it when I see it. I am not an artist, but I feel a bit closer to artists when I read GNs since their art is laid out a bit differently than in a painting or other more traditional medium and when you layer in narrative and word play, I feel like I am seeing a 3D rendering of how the artist works through thoughts on a subject visually. I love that. With good language and good art-a grap...more
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When I first heard about Maus, I think the novelty of the 'gimmick' (you know, that comic book about the holocaust where the Jews are mice and the Nazis are cats) both drew me to it and made me skeptical of the whole thing at the same time (I was already pretty into comics / graphic novels / whateveryouwanttocallthem at the time). In hindsight my skepticism, by virtue of lowering my expectations, set me up to be absolutely floored by that book as the story unfolded. I've been a devotee of Mr. Sp...more
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This is a pretty unique item; Art Spiegelman recounts the genesis for his towering achievement, Maus. Via extended interview (brilliantly done by Hillary Chute who reviewed his archive of notes and drawings), we are walked back through the process and aftermath of the book which is heavily illustrated with tons of ephemera. This really does act as Spiegelman's final word on the project, which looms large. His success was incredible, but it has also haunted him (not to mention the brutal Holocaus...more
I've read Maus many times, and seen Art Spiegelman speak twice. So I'm a fan. But perhaps I knew too much as I sat down to read this. Parts of it were illuminating, but I didn't learn as much about Maus as I expected to. MetaMaus is a book of interviews (the majority with Spiegelman and a few brief ones with family and others) supplemented with illustrations from Maus, sketches, and other sources that inspired the artist and the work.
The DVD ROM that accompanies it is a bit clunky but does incl...more
The DVD ROM that accompanies it is a bit clunky but does incl...more
MetaMaus is a book about a book -- it could be called "The Making of Maus." This might make it seem dull or a "fans only" book, but it actually is a very interesting companion to the Maus graphic novels. Do read Maus part one and two first, but then read MetaMaus too.
Maus is the story of Art Spiegelman's father, a Nazi camp survivor. The book chronicles not only the father's experiences but Art's difficulties in making the book itself. In this way, Maus is already "meta". But MetaMaus takes anot...more
Maus is the story of Art Spiegelman's father, a Nazi camp survivor. The book chronicles not only the father's experiences but Art's difficulties in making the book itself. In this way, Maus is already "meta". But MetaMaus takes anot...more
If you found the Maus volumes of Art Spiegelman fascinating, you'll likely glean at least a few interesting facts from this book, which is really a Q&A that includes related visuals. The Q&A actually isn't that interesting. Neither the interviewer nor Spiegelman are all that probing or insightful verbally. It's the background visuals here that are worth a look and can be fascinating. From those visuals, you get a clear idea of how Spiegelman went from historical images to those he made f...more
This was an excellent companion piece to Maus. Most of the book consisted of a series of interviews of Art Spiegelman. In them he talks about the creative process of bringing Maus to life. He describes the struggles of trying to convert his father's story into a comic book that people would take seriously. He also talks about the many influences of books and comics on the shaping of Maus. Along with the interviews, the pages are full of his sketchbook pages, concept drawings, and rough drafts of...more
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I learned so much in this book. I knew that Maus had affected me deeply and that it wasn't just to do with the subject matter, but in MetaMaus I felt I really came to an understanding of the level of craft Spiegelman put into his work. Spiegelman speaks about the different levels of his books, the overt subject of Auschwitz and the Holocaust, but also the framing narrative of intergenerational misuderstandings and conflict, that being a survivor of the Holocaust doesn't make you perfect, and of...more
This is a unique book, so has only the one rating: highest.
The enclosed disk of all Maus books was useful to have along with the hard-copy.
I have read volumes of holocaust books, from the time I was young, from Anne Frank's diary to most of Wiezel's work, from good to sleazy. So, how did Maus add to that body of work? First, the book focused on the relationship between the father and son, Art and Vladek. And it tells a family story. For any of us who know camp survivors, have read the literatu...more
The enclosed disk of all Maus books was useful to have along with the hard-copy.
I have read volumes of holocaust books, from the time I was young, from Anne Frank's diary to most of Wiezel's work, from good to sleazy. So, how did Maus add to that body of work? First, the book focused on the relationship between the father and son, Art and Vladek. And it tells a family story. For any of us who know camp survivors, have read the literatu...more
Maus I and Maus 2 are among the most powerful books I've read, and so I was interested to find out the story behind the story. MetaMaus takes the form of a book-length Q&A (like everything else of Spiegelman's put together over several years) covering most of the questions he has gotten about the books since they were published. I had always assumed that Spiegelman took some poetic license to make the Maus narrative work in comic form. What struck me most forcefully was the lengths Spiegelma...more
“The advantage to using the stuff of real life is that one really is left with people who are far more interesting than what one could ever make up.”
Wowowowow.
OK, when I first started reading about this book and people were saying that this book was
I have to admit I was sceptical.
Graphic Novel Fun Fact: Maus was the first graphic novel I ever read and anyone knows me and my reading tastes will know that I will defend the graphic novel to the death.
So, needless to say, it made an impression on...more
Wowowowow.
OK, when I first started reading about this book and people were saying that this book was
I have to admit I was sceptical.
Graphic Novel Fun Fact: Maus was the first graphic novel I ever read and anyone knows me and my reading tastes will know that I will defend the graphic novel to the death.
So, needless to say, it made an impression on...more
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Aug 20, 2012
Markku Kesti
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Matti Karjalainen
Mitä tästä voi sanoa. Hollywood -elokuvien Näin tehtiin -dokumentit ovat kenties vastenmielisintä mukadokumentarismia mitä maa päällään kantaa. Meta Maus on jotain muuta. Jos luet sarjakuvia vain viihtyäksesi tai jos mestariteosten taustat tahi tekijän intentiot eivät sinua kiinnosta, älä edes aloita tätä kirjaa. Jos sen sijaan kaipaat tietoa Spiegelmanin valinnoista kkuten miksi hän piirsi puolalaiset sioiksi tai mihin viittaa Auschwitzin kuolemanparakeista nousevan savun sekoittuminen Artin sa...more
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An absolutely fascinating look "behind the scenes" of the groundbreaking 'Maus' graphic novels, probing the tensions between personal and collective memory (not to mention pop culture and "high" literature), and examining the construction and reconstruction of memories, the conscious crafting of narratives, and graphic storytelling techniques. It deploys a really well-chosen selection of source materials (photos, rough drafts, photographs, oral history transcripts, etc) to do this, and more are...more
If you are a fan of the Maus graphic novel, than this book is a perfect addition to your collection. I thought I loved Maus before I read Metamaus, but after reading Metamaus I appreciate it ever more; the book goes into a lot of detail dissecting panels from the graphic novel and explaining where Spiegelman got a lot of his ideas. Their are interviews with his family in the book and a full transcript of all the recorded interviews he did with his father. My favorite thing about the book was the...more
I don't think I would have read "Maus" in 1986 if I hadn't opened it at a set of panels that instructs the novice in painstaking visual and written detail how to repair a shoe well enough to stay alive in Auschwitz. Riveting. I forgot about this until "Meta Maus." where Spiegelman reflects on the shoe-shop scene. "It allowed me to insert a Melville moment into this book," he says. "An: 'Oh so that's how whaling is whaled...'" Meta Maus isn't for everyone. But people who are interested in how thi...more
A 2012 Sophie Brody Medal honor title.
Spiegelman explains his motivations and challenges in creating “Maus”, which is based on his parents’ Holocaust experiences. He also explains why he used a comic book format, as well as the difficulties he had in maintaining an accurate picture that corresponded to his father’s stories. Spiegelman also discusses how the world received “Maus” and his challenges in maintaining its integrity.
For the complete list of 2012 Sophie Brody honor titles, please visit...more
Spiegelman explains his motivations and challenges in creating “Maus”, which is based on his parents’ Holocaust experiences. He also explains why he used a comic book format, as well as the difficulties he had in maintaining an accurate picture that corresponded to his father’s stories. Spiegelman also discusses how the world received “Maus” and his challenges in maintaining its integrity.
For the complete list of 2012 Sophie Brody honor titles, please visit...more
No words. Every bit the masterpiece that Maus is, full of specificity, insight, and vast amounts of knowledge. I am pouring over this book and loving every minute of it. If you like history, you'll like it; if you like graphic novels, you'll like it; if you like insight into the artistic process, you'll like it; if you like to read about things that will enrich your understanding of the multiple facets of the human condition, you'll like it; if you like all of the above, you'll LOVE IT. For grap...more
I actually haven't read this cover-to-cover (I just skimmed the transcript of the interview with Vladek at the end), nor have I checked out the CD that comes with the book yet (though I plan to), but the bulk of this book, which is an interview between Hillary Chute and Art Spiegelman was *fantastic*. If you're a hardcore fan of Maus and are interested in Spiegelman's work in general, this is indispensable. Spiegelman is an incredibly intelligent and articulate man and reading about the creative...more
It's taken a while to finish this book, but then it's not my 'main' read, rather something that I have been reading bit by bit, in tea breaks etc.
It's not a story, at least not a fictional one, rather a serious study of the background to one of the most important graphic novels ever created: Art Speigelman's MAUS.
Here we get to see so much ranging from the creative process from the gestation of the idea through to the actual starting of the work, to the though process behind the story, panel co...more
It's not a story, at least not a fictional one, rather a serious study of the background to one of the most important graphic novels ever created: Art Speigelman's MAUS.
Here we get to see so much ranging from the creative process from the gestation of the idea through to the actual starting of the work, to the though process behind the story, panel co...more
Illustrated with sketches, photos, drawings, and new comics. Closes with the full text of Art's original interview with Vladek. There is a very funny interlude comic with Maurice Sendak about the complexities of childhood. I haven't even made it into the searchable CD rom of reviews and full searchable images of the two Maus books. Spiegelman describes several crucial pages, how he came to their final form, how we can look at the comic images now. A very sophisticated work, even more post modern...more
Perhaps the most acclaimed and significant graphic novel ever produced, Spiegelman's powerful anthropomorphic
Maus
chronicled the life of his father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew Holocaust survivor. The powerful tale, related from a series of interviews between the Spiegelmans, employed cartoon, traditionally funny, animals as avatars for the various nationalities -- mice for the Jews, cats for the Germans, pigs for the Americans, etc. -- to great effect in this serious, intelligent, and im...more
MetaMaus is based off a series of interviews Hillary Chute conducted with Art Spiegelman over the course of several years. The book is set up in a Q&A format that mirrors the process Spiegelman used to interview his own father for the information in Maus. Intentionally, I'm sure. It's meant to be Spiegelman's definitive word on the intentions and creation of Maus.
The book is divided into three large sections, reflecting what Spiegelman says are the three questions that he's asked most often...more
The book is divided into three large sections, reflecting what Spiegelman says are the three questions that he's asked most often...more
If you loved Maus: My Father Bleeds History and Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began, this is a wonderful companion piece. It's like the bonus material you get from a special addition movie times 100. It's like the best google search and wikipedia article on Maus and Art Spiegelman ever. It answered so many questions I had for so long. Why did he depict the Polish as pigs? Why show so much of the conflict between Spiegelman and his father? He goes into a lot of detail on the latter. And when aske...more
Jan 24, 2012
jeff
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
graphic-novels
I loved Maus when I read it in college, despite the psychic wounding it inflicted on me that i don't know that i've recovered from. This is a consolidated series of interviews with Art Spiegelman over the course of four years and they cover most of the questions anyone could possibly have about his creation of Maus. Also liberally annotated with ephemera and drafts and photos and tangential interviews with his family. Another in a long line of artist-talking-about-making-art pieces that i enjoy...more
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Art Spiegelman (born February 15, 1948) is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic memoir, Maus. The second volume of Maus was dedicated to Richieu and to Spiegelman's daughter Nadja. He also has a son, currently a junior at Brown University.
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“In reality, childhood is deep and rich. It's vital, mysterious, and profound. I remember my OWN childhood vividly; I knew terrible things, but I knew I mustn't let the adults *know* I knew... it would scare them.”
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Nov 03, 2011 11:41am