Response to the censorship of Art Spiegelman's "Maus"
Tomorrow an event will be held on campus that centers around the recent ban of Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel “Maus.” The event, organized by the Gregg-Graniteville Library and library committee, will take place from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Penland building, room 106.
Dr. Matthew Miller, Dr. Samuel Pierce and Professor Brandy Horne will be discussing the book and its ban and there will be a question and answer session. This event is an ICE event that is free of charge and open to the public.
“Maus” is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. This mixed-genre book is Spiegelman’s nonfiction retelling of his Jewish family's experience during the Holocaust. In the book, the German characters are depicted as cats, while the Jewish characters are represented as mice. This symbolization serves to emphasize the dynamic between the Jews and Germans during this time, and the book recounts Spiegelman’s family struggles and trauma.
“Maus” was banned from classrooms by a school board in McMinn, Tennessee in January due to the book’s violent nature and depictions of suicide, nudity and profanity. Since the ban, the text has reached the top of the best sellers list, over 30 years after its original publication in 1986.
It is National Library Week. The event aims to bring attention to book bans and censoring and their threat to intellectual freedom. The historical significance of “Maus” will also be discussed.
A guide to fighting against book censorship in schools can be found here.
