The Ruth and Robert Abel Memorial Book and Film Discussion Group

Abington Free Library, 1030 Old York Rd, Abington, PA | Get Directions »
FREE

Discussions led by Dr. Karen Weekes

May 8 - Maus by Art Spiegelman

Books available for purchase soon in the Library Office, Abington Free Library or click here to borrow from the Library System. 

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father’s story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), shocks us out of any lingering sense of familiarity and succeeds in “drawing us closer to the bleak heart of the Holocaust” (The New York Times).

Maus is a haunting tale within a tale. Vladek's harrowing story of survival is woven into the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits. This astonishing retelling of our century's grisliest news is a story of survival, not only of Vladek but of the children who survive even the survivors. Maus studies the bloody pawprints of history and tracks its meaning for all of us. - (Blackwell North Amer)

Dr. Karen Weekes is an Associate Professor of English at Penn State University, Abington College. Her teaching and research interests include contemporary American and world literature, women’s writing, and graphic memoir and other non-traditional modes of autobiography. She is the founder of the Society for Contemporary Literature and has enjoyed leading or participating in book groups for many years.

Register for these FREE programs in the Library Office, Abington Free Library, 1030 Old York Road, Abington, PA 19001, call 215-885-5180, ext. 15 or email: kburnham@mclinc.org