It’s been more than 20 years since the original release of Art Spiegelman’s two volume holocaust epic, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, and in that time span the book has become a critical darling, a cultural touchstone, a Pulitzer Prize winner and even a classroom text.
This past month Random House released the much anticipated companion text MetaMaus, a behind-the-scenes look at the forces behind the original. As Spiegelman explains in the book’s introduction, MetaMaus is in part an attempt to answer any and all lingering questions that surround his famed graphic novel.
MetaMaus is made up of a series of interviews conducted with the likes of Spiegelman, his wife, his children and his father — the last of which come from the very interview files that were used to create the story of Maus. While the interviews with Spiegelman take up the lion’s share of the book, segments spent with other individuals closely tied to the making of Maus, especially Spiegelman’s father Vladek, add a welcome level of depth and variety to the reading experience.
Apart from the Q&A dialogue littered throughout, the book rarely goes more than one full page without offering some sort of visual stimulant. Whether it’s an old sketch, a family photo, a fresh comic or a storyboard draft, MetaMaus is packed to the gills with some truly great pictures that accompany the text.
Myself a product of our age, I can’t help but read MetaMaus and be reminded of the bonus features, the deleted scenes and outtakes that routinely come loaded alongside older films when released on DVD. Forgive the reference, but here MetaMaus is the literary equivalent of those super special collector Lord of the Rings DVDs that come with a calendar month’s worth of extra content.
For those who don’t already own the original Maus, this book also comes packaged with The Complete Maus Files on CD, only further adding to the overall value of the project.
If there’s one bone to pick with MetaMaus, however, it’s that while the amount of content is staggering, sometimes the lack of explanation can make the offering seem overwhelming. To be sure, it’s obvious MetaMaus contains just about everything one could ask for in a book about the creation and success of another book. Letting a random photograph or a notebook sketch read for itself rather than explaining its importance can sometimes be frustrating.
As far as the appeal of this book goes, it’s unlikely that Spiegelman and interviewer Hillary Chute’s new effort will draw much interest outside of the established Maus fan base. That is, however, by design. MetaMaus is an incredible achievement, a true testament to the effort and care that has gone into maintaining the original novel.
Newcomers to the title will certainly have to first read the two-volume Maus, but the folks behind MetaMaus have guaranteed that those who venture this far surely won’t be disappointed.
