Art Spiegelman reflected on schools banning his graphic memoir Maus in an interview with literary nonprofit PEN America.
Spiegelman’s book, about his parents’ experiences as Holocaust survivors, was serialized beginning in 1980, and published in book form as two volumes in 1986 and 1991. It was given a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992.
Last year, the book was banned in a school district in Tennessee, and has since been challenged in districts in Texas, Missouri, and Florida. The challenges have focused on the book’s profanity and a panel that depicts Spiegelman’s mother naked in a bathtub following her suicide.
Reacting to allegations that the book is “sexually explicit,” Spiegelman told PEN, “There’s nothing there that could possibly titillate. Even if you’re a sadist, you wouldn’t go to that one for the picture, to see a dead body. And so I was offended just like they were, but I was offended by describing a naked corpse as a nude woman.”
He said that he believes it’s the history behind Maus that makes some people uncomfortable.
“It’s an uncomfortable history,” he said. “It’s a painful history…We haven’t learned much from the past, but there’s some things you should be able to figure out. Book burning leads to people burning. So it’s something that needs to be fought against.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
