"Second generation" Holocaust Literature: Art Spiegelman's Maus

Abstract

The bachelor paper deals with the topic of the Holocaust, more precisely with the so-called second generation Holocaust literature which is written by the children of the survivors of the Holocaust. The paper focuses on analysis of the graphic novel Maus which in two timelines tells the story of the author himself and further it tells the author?s father's experiences from the Holocaust. The main aim of the bachelor paper is to show on the author of Maus, Art Spiegelman, how the trauma of the Holocaust is transmitted on the second generation, and moreover, how he and the whole second generation are influenced by that event. Other aspects of Maus such as animal symbolism, question of suicide, transmission of trauma or the so-called survival guilt will be analysed.