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| Check out pix of the cool Vladek doll made by Danielle Marlet. |
1. Complete a draft of your Project 1 artist's statement, and share it with me on Google Drive. Aim to write at least 500 words.
2. Read Maus, Book I, and then write 250 words or so in response to this prompt:
“Samuel Beckett once said, ‘Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness,’" remarks Artie, the protagonist in Art Spiegelman’s Maus, and then adds “On the other hand, he SAID it.”
Use this quotation to help you think about Spiegelman’s purpose in creating Maus. What do you think Spiegelman hopes to achieve by not only publishing to the world his family’s private experience of the Holocaust, but by doing so in the form of a text that, at first glance, might appear to be completely ill suited to the task representing a subject as horrifyingly real as genocide: namely, what they used to call a “funny animal comic”? In other words, how does this surprising choice of artistic strategy actually serve to develop Spiegelman’s deeper themes in ways that more conventional visual storytelling strategies would not?Your response should focus on a single panel, page, or scene from the text. Don't forget to post it to Google Drive.
Also, if you enjoy Maus, then you’ll also enjoy this interview with Art Spiegelman.
And if you really enjoy Maus then you’ll really enjoy this two-hour lecture by Spiegelman.
