Art Spiegelman: Maus

This article aims to provide an introduction to Art Spiegelman’s Maus (1986, 1991). It considers Spiegelman’s work as a piece of Holocaust commemoration, foregrounding the various narratives of loss and fragmentation that the text produces. I follow Erin McGlothlin’s understanding of the narrative structure as existing on three distinct levels: the diegetic level of Vladek’s story; the middle layer that focuses on Art’s relationship with his parents; and the “outer layer” (2003: 182) that is concerned with Art’s own processes of narrative construction. Relating these various layers to the production of different narratives of trauma, I show that the text works as a commemorative piece by foregrounding themes of loss and fragmentation.