At my college, we regularly vote on books which will be read by all english courses across the campus. We call this voting process the "One Book One College" Literary Initiative. I was intrigued to find out which book I was possibly going to be reading for one of my english classes. There was a list comprised of the top four final books left for voting was posted on every door of the campus where books and reading were regularly commonplace. Carefully scanning each page like a laser to a barcode, I got in every detail and every nuance of line and I started to read upon each of the books descriptions. I was surprised at the choices, or at least one in particular, which I found very moving. Of the four books that I have seen, Maus was voted on the list. Remember, people only 4 books were chosen left for the initiative and Maus happened to place in the top 4. This move shocked me for two reasons: (1) I would never expect for a comic to be taught at the college university level and (2) this surprised me at how comics are becoming treated seriously. A comic book about the holocaust is given a chance to claim its own image as literature in an otherwise, prosaic and pictureless tradition.
For those of you who have not read Maus, it is the biographical treatise of Author/Artist Arthur Speigelman's [sic] father, Vladek, during his time as a Polish Jew during the holocaust. This book anthropomorphizes certain races as certain animals. Jews are mice (hence the title), German's are cats, Americans are dogs, etc. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 and is currently the only comic to have won such an award. More importantly it has been studied by Holocaust scholars and had been compared to such Holocaust literature as Elie Wiesel's Night.
I became mesmerized that a comic book, or for the more literary elite "graphic novel," had been considered by an educational institution such as mine worthy of study and discussion. And yet there are still those who believe that comics are just for kids and still looked down upon. Despite this great nomination for our "One Book" initiative, it might not win for one, and also it still depresses me a little that comics are still treated like complete kids stuff. While the superheroes of the Mainstream may be as entertaining to some, comics have grown up. Examples come in the form of such series as Watchmen, The Sandman, Ghost World, Krazy Kat, From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Preacher Akira, and Astroboy among many others, which are considered to be such as great form of high art and some even going to the point of being labeled literature.
I just wanted to leave you guys with this: What do you guys think about comics and the its ability to utilize sequence to move people from one event to another to tell a story? Also if you could answer the poll and no flame wars please.
For those of you who have not read Maus, it is the biographical treatise of Author/Artist Arthur Speigelman's [sic] father, Vladek, during his time as a Polish Jew during the holocaust. This book anthropomorphizes certain races as certain animals. Jews are mice (hence the title), German's are cats, Americans are dogs, etc. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 and is currently the only comic to have won such an award. More importantly it has been studied by Holocaust scholars and had been compared to such Holocaust literature as Elie Wiesel's Night.
I became mesmerized that a comic book, or for the more literary elite "graphic novel," had been considered by an educational institution such as mine worthy of study and discussion. And yet there are still those who believe that comics are just for kids and still looked down upon. Despite this great nomination for our "One Book" initiative, it might not win for one, and also it still depresses me a little that comics are still treated like complete kids stuff. While the superheroes of the Mainstream may be as entertaining to some, comics have grown up. Examples come in the form of such series as Watchmen, The Sandman, Ghost World, Krazy Kat, From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Preacher Akira, and Astroboy among many others, which are considered to be such as great form of high art and some even going to the point of being labeled literature.
I just wanted to leave you guys with this: What do you guys think about comics and the its ability to utilize sequence to move people from one event to another to tell a story? Also if you could answer the poll and no flame wars please.
