Metamaus - (Pantheon Graphic Library) by Art Spiegelman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD WINNER - Visually and emotionally rich, MetaMaus is as groundbreaking as the masterpiece whose creation it reveals - Featured in the documentary Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse

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 decades ago.

He probes the questions that Maus most often evokes--Why the Holocaust? Why mice? Why comics?--and gives us a new and essential work about the creative process.

Compelling and intimate, MetaMaus is poised to become a classic in its own right.

Review Quotes

"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

About the Author

ART SPIEGELMAN is one of the world's most admired and beloved comic artists, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning Holocaust narrative, Maus. Born in Stockholm in 1948, Spiegelman began studying cartooning in high school and drawing professionally at age sixteen. He studied art and philosophy at Harpur College before joining the underground comics movement in the 1960s. Spiegelman taught history and the aesthetics of comics at the School of Visual Arts in New York from 1979 to 1986, and in 1980 he founded RAW, the acclaimed avant-garde comics magazine, with his wife, Françoise Mouly. Honors Spiegelman has received include induction into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame and the Art Director's Club Hall of Fame. In 2005, he was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People. He was made an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2007, and in 2011 he was awarded the Grand Prix at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. In 2015, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2018 he became the first comic artist to receive the Edward MacDowell Medal. His art has been exhibited at museums throughout the world, including the Pompidou Center in Paris, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Jewish Museum in New York City, and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.