Introduction Postmodernism in Maus
Postmodernism in Maus shows the presence of the multiplicity of thematic strands, making it the most popular graphic novel. Yet, it seems very hard to understand this abstruse text of animal images representing human beings and then presenting the theme of the holocaust through these images; a colossal event of human history being represented through animal images in such a broken way. This, itself, becomes a postmodern technique where the text or presentation becomes a symbol of the avant-garde about which Linda Hutcheon has talked much in her book saying it offers a model of “contesting the fixity of the borders between art and life” (218). Art Spiegelman manipulated the same avant-garde of art and exploited it to write this graphic novel on the pattern of weaving some narratives to dislodge the reader about his faith in a master narrative that drives the characters (229). Maus even shows various other features of postmodern fiction even during a single reading. Leaving aside the comics and use of images, the stories within this story emerge after the first reading that a reader forgets that it is talking about the Holocaust and gets interested in the story of Vladek and Art but when it comes back to the Holocaust, then it makes readers startle over this story within a story and then within a story technique, which is truly modern. Not only does postmodernism in Maus peeps through, but also shows the author’s search for truth and reality, use of various narratives, search for identity, and use of pastiches; to name a few postmodern features of a work of fiction.
Postmodernism in Maus as Manipulation of Avant-Garde
One of the features of postmodern fiction is that it manipulates the modern concept of literary avant-garde which Linda Hutcheon says having no borders for literary genres (218). It means that one genre is mixed and merged into another and vice versa or many genres are mixed into each other in such a way that they try to present meanings of historical events. Art Spiegelman has tried to derive meanings of the Holocaust through the comical narrative of his father merged with his own narrative of writing this comic. For example, when Vladek is telling Art about Haskel, and how he survived the war, he feels short of breath and has to tell his son that he is have feeling difficulty though he has nitrostate, a type of medicine. This is the narrative of Art Spiegelman and how he tackles getting master narrative from his father which he into comics. To come back to the master narrative again, his father asked Art “What was I telling you” to which he reminded him of the incident of Haskel (111). At another place, he says it clearly that he visited his father to get more information which means to continue his narrative (42). Even his story of visiting his psychiatrist, too, is a merger in the master narrative, though the psychiatrist is also a Holocaust survivor. However, it is also a point that this entire game of narratives within narratives without applying specific genres is due to man’s eternal search for truth as shown in the novel when analyzed through postmodernism in Maus.
History and Postmodenrism in Maus
The search for truth through such a method and reference to history is not new, but it is a specific feature of postmodernism in Maus. Art Spiegelman has applied this feature to his novel Maus. Although he wants to know the truth about his father’s survival and escape, his mother’s death, and his brother’s life, he gets involved in his own truth about his own life and how he feels guilty of neglecting his father. The art of mixing different genres and then continuing with them parallel with the master narrative is just the same search for truth. It is because Art Spiegelman is looking for morality behind the past events by presenting them in the present through oral telling of the real characters. This is a sort of search for reality behind another reality where reality is blurred in the present. That is why Linda Hutcheon has stated that this is the problem of modern fiction that it questions the relationship between history and reality and then even of both with the language (15). Perhaps that is the very reason that Spiegelman has tried to present the reality of history through comic figures to make it presentable when it is analyzed through postmodernism in Maus.
Postmodernism in Maus through Metanarrative
However, the problem of modern fiction is that not only there are many sides of the story and story within a story with a metanarrative, but also that the narrators are sometimes unreliable. Art Spiegelman interviews his father at different times to construct the real story of his survival but then turns to his own story of neglecting his father at times when he needs Art the most. Even both fight over smoking and pedaling blaming each other that the problem of shortness of breath is due to the one’s smoking or the other’s pedaling. This builds up a tension where Art sometimes feels that he has neglected his father abut at other times tries to use him to get notes for his comic story (Spiegelman 91-92). This, somewhat builds tension in which he visits his psychiatrist and the story takes a new turnabout familial relations and guilt, another tension. Both of these conflicts lead to the unreliability of the main narrator as well as the secondary narrator. This is feature of the postmodern that a story is inserted with the more stories or a metanarrative is interrupted through various other narratives going on parallel with the metanarrative. In fact, this is a search for identity that the Jews lost during their escape.
Identity and Postmodernism in Maus
Although Art Spiegelman seems to be in search of his Jewish identity, this is not a specific trait of postmodernism in Maus. In fact, it is the loss of identity that postmodern fiction portrays. Jews lost their identity when the German soldiers were looking for them and killing them on one or the other pretext. Although during the initial stages of the German occupation and segregation of the Jews, they mostly helped each other as Ilzecki helps Vladek in setting up business. However, as soon as life becomes uncertain, the Jews stopped showing themselves as Jews and helping each other. The instinct of survival overcame the identity of being Jewish. Several Jews became informers of the police on the promise that they would be spared. Even Haskel, his cousin, refused to take Jews to Auschwitz without money (114-115). The only answer Vladek to his cousin’s hunger for money was “You don’t understand” as it “was everybody to take care of himself” (114). Now to find his Jewish identity, Spiegelman tries to revisit history and build the same narrative. It is, however, very important to know that Spiegelman has tried to build his identity in this modern age when nothing seems real, even the language. Therefore, the use of pastiche in narrative a la art comes in handy to him and peeps through when postmodernism in Maus is specifically explored.
Although pastiche is used in art, Spiegelman has employed this technique through comics in this novel. As he has used two narratives at the same time, it blurs a difference between the past history and the present history, making him merge both in panels. For example, at one place, he is hearing his father telling him tale of his escape, but at the next moment, he asks “Art you ready for walk again?” and then start the story again (119). Furthermore, the use of only two colors and animal, mouse, to show Jewish people and their situation as mousetrap. In the same way, he has presented Germans as cats which points to the cat and mouse game of the Jews and their escape for survival. The way of presenting this historical even through comic symbols of animals is truly a show of postmodernism in Maus.
Conclusion
In short, Maus is a representative postmodern fiction display various postmodern traits used in fiction as well as art. It is because it is the demand of the time and age to use these techniques to convey this to modern readers. It is also that the colossal events of the Holocaust could not be conveyed so impressively and effectively only through language which has become an unreliable medium and the situation of Jewish suffering could not be conveyed just through the depiction of human beings undergoing torture until they are further belittled to animals and then treated like animals. This is the search for reality which has been blurred and it could be narrated through various narratives. This is also a search of identity when it is lost. The use of pastiche and comic animals has further strengthened the postmodernism in Maus.
Works Cited
- Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory and Fiction. New York, Routledge. 1988. Print.
- Spiegelman, Art. Maus. New York: Penguin, 2001. Print.
Relevant Questions about Postmodernism in Maus by Spiegelman
- How does the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman subvert conventional narrative structures and historical representation through its postmodern elements?
- What is the role and significance of metafiction within the context of Maus by Art Spiegelman, and how does it contribute to the work’s postmodern character?
- In what ways does the use of animal allegory in Maus challenge established notions of identity and representation, reflecting its postmodern narrative?
