Are you a Man or a Maus?

That is an interesting question. Are they men or are they Maus? Are they real or are they fiction? Or are they perhaps both? Is the subgenre label of non-fiction graphic novels a misnomer?

I can't speak for others, but I don't believe the label of non-fiction graphic novel is a misnomer. Well at least no more so than some history books. Regardless of whether the characters are drawn as men or mice, it is still only an artist's rendition of the events second hand. The artistic component of the novel cannot be nonfiction for this reason. It is the written portion of the story that is nonfiction. It is in this way that it can be both non-fiction and a novel.

What's the art style can do for nonfiction is allow readers to empathize with the characters. The truth is in the words and the imagination is in the art. Even if it is a highly constructed medium it can still be true because the art is just the artist’s rendition of actual events. I actually think that using a more simplistic style, a more abstract style, for a historical story may actually be better. In understanding comics, McCloud talked in previous chapters about how abstract faces allow you to see more of yourself in the character. So using this more abstract art style may actually allow people to empathize with the storyteller more than if it was photo-realistic.

While Maus is not the most emotive graphic novel I’ve read, it gives a strange sense of being both part of and yet outside of the story. In chapter five of understanding comics Scott McCloud ask the question can “emotions be made visible”? Strangely enough Maus does not take advantage of its medium to depict emotions very much. I did find this scene however both comical and emotive.

Maus, with the exception of a few scenes, shows most of its emotions in the text and body movements of its characters. The author does do a good job setting the moods and tones of each panel with strong black tones. The novel is genius in that the art almost does the bare minimum to depict visual detail. It really is just enough detail that the author doesn't have to explain what's going on in the scene. It does what other forms can’t by making the story more digestible.

Well that's all for tonight everyone. Have a good night and thank you for reading.

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ENG 4433: Topics in World Lit

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