“Father, You’re Driving Me Mad”: Transmission of Trauma from Father to Son in Art Spiegelman’s Maus
Keywords:
trauma, transmission of trauma, Art Spiegelman, Maus, Holocaust survivor, second generation, postmemory, guiltAbstract
This paper deals with trauma as transmitted from Vladek Spiegelman to his son Artie in Art Spigelman’s graphic novel Maus. The trauma experienced by Vladek, who lived in Nazi-occupied territory during the Second World War and who experienced the Holocaust personally, has not been forgotten, although its victim has been relocated both in time and place. The trauma remained and had an impact on Vladek’s son Artie, who was born after World War II. This transferred trauma is explored in both volumes of Art Spiegelman’s Maus, in which Vladek Spiegelman’s life is presented both in the past, showing the difficult period of the Second World War in Europe, and in the present – in the postwar United States between the 1950s and the 1980s. The problematic relationship between Artie and Vladek, who never becomes fully integrated into American society, is shown. In this paper I will focus on this particular level of the narrative, especially on the signs of trauma transmitted from Vladek to his son Artie.
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