Testimonial literature in the first volume of Maus, by Art Spiegelman: the impossibility of factual narrative

Abstract

Written and drawn by the American cartoonist Art Spiegelman, Maus – A survivor's story is a graphic novel originally published in two volumes, between the seventies and eighties. In it, we observe a dialogue between the author and his father, Vladek Spiegelman, about the period in which he witnessed the Nazi persecution against the Jews. From this account, Art deepens his perception of his father, mother and other family members, many of whom died in the fields. In a simple and objective way, Spiegelman's art and text place the reader not only inside the memories of a survivor of the Nazi persecution, but also as an observer of the conflicts between a father and a son in their differences, in their disagreements. This article aims to reflect on the recreation of this repressive scenario and the real experiences of its narrator in the graphic novel. In this sense, our analysis will show the limitations of the report based on memories of trauma, an element observed in several testimonial reports.