The novel ‘Maus’ reaches a new peak after the Tennessee school banned it for being too graphic and inappropriate for children.
Art Spiegelman‘s “Maus,” which saw the light of prohibition in Tennessee, is a novel about Holocaust. After this made the national news, the sales have been rising tremendously.
A book that was barely in the top 1000, suddenly reached the pinnacle and made it to the Top 20 on Amazon. On Friday evening, it garnered the Top 12. The book was in limited supply, and wasn’t available to deliver until mid-February. The other books, “The Complete Maus,” and the second volume of “Maus: A survivor’s tale” has been already sold out.
Maus in various contexts. pic.twitter.com/3CVyXoXodP
— MausAnalysis (@MausAnalysis) April 2, 2016
A Survivor’s Tale
“Maus” is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. It talks about Spiegelman’s father’s experiences as a Holocaust survivor. The forbidden fate of the novel was granted as they concluded it to be “unsuited” and “wrong” for children. The book has illustrations of a nude woman, drawn as a mouse, and so the school board decided to remove it for good.
While this book is in the talks, the board has come to a conclusion to remove books that depict killing, violence, and are graphic. For instance, Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Toni Morrison’s “The bluest eye” has been included in the list as well.
School authorities refuse to let children get exposed to books that talk about racism and have LGBTQ+ themes. However, we aren’t sure of the thoughts that led to such. But as people face these issues as a whole, the world shouldn’t be ignorant of people’s problems.
Spiegelman’s thoughts about the ban
Maus talks about the harsh battles and personal experiences of Holocaust victims and survivors. This book is educational, and can be seen as something children could learn and take responsibility for. From the board’s viewpoint, they aren’t entirely against the events the book tells but they don’t consider it to be age-appropriate.
Though, this decision to ban has left Spiegelman quite “baffled,” calling it to be “Orwellian.” He further added, “It’s leaving me with my jaw open, like, ‘What?'” We can assume that the ban has left Spiegelman in quite a blunder. Anyone who wants their work to reach the world would be disappointed. So, Spiegelman’s outburst is quite expected.
For more updates, stay tuned to Stanford Arts Review.
