Art Spiegelman is an influential American Jewish comic artist best known for Maus, a comic series in two parts depicting interviews with his father about his experience in Auschwitz. Over his 40 year career, Spiegelman created and edited the Garbage Pail Kid series, and worked for The New Yorker creating its cover art to name a few of his cultural contributions. Yet, Maus and Maus II are his works that have known the most lasting success and influence. In a contemporary conversation with David Samuel for Tablet Magazine, Spiegelman comments on the iconic status of Maus, and its role of informing future American Jews about the holocaust by stating:

“I mean, I’ve now drawn it 15 different ways—the giant 500-pound mouse chasing me through a cave, the monument to my father that casts a shadow over my life right now. I’ve made something that clearly became a touchstone for people. And the Holocaust trumps art every time”.

This description of a drawing never published shows Spiegelman’s internal struggle with the image of Maus as a masterpiece that will be read by generations to come. Spiegelman is clearly aware of the omnipresence of Maus in academia and popular culture; its many translations and the references people make to the works create some sort of anxiety in him. Some of these feelings are expressed in Maus II in the Time Flies chapter as Art’s character has reservations about continuing the work following his father’s death, but it is very interesting to see that in 2013 Spiegelman is still somewhat haunted by the reception of his finest work.

I assume that these feelings of doubt steaming from the problematic nature of representing horrific events have an enduring effect on Spiegelman, especially since he is aware that people are still reading Maus today.