Nov 14 - Maus

I thought i would take this opportunity to talk about my philosophy on english papers about fiction novels (or graphic novels, for that matter).

There seems no better way to dislike a book i initially liked than to have to write a 10 page paper about it. Five pages, well. That seems reasonable. I mean there's definitely something to be said for expressing ideas and making arguments (plus i really like the idea of having multiple evolving thesis in a paper instead of the 5 paragraph intro, body, supporting evidence, conclusion paper with nice transitions and topic sentences).

However, the more i read the academic papers about Maus, the more i throw up all over my keyboard. They're SO intellectual! I mean, of course they will be since they're academic, but it blows my mind to read some of these things. Elaborate frameworks dedicated to describing how different structures in Maus play out. I mean, they're probably true, and it makes sense to write it out if you're interested, but to have paper after paper after paper about this same stuff constantly making arguments...

I'm really not sure what i'm supposed to write. There are definitely parts that i think very interesting (i liked the book)... but what i took most from it was the emotional impact of reading and seeing a story about someone's experience in the holocaust. What the book did most for me was made me gawk when i walked into a convenience store at how luxurious and easy everything around me is. Just having a matress. or even a blanket. THat's the power of the book.

I could talk about the various ways in which Spiegelman did this. I'm glad he thought about it because he made a great product. But i'm most interested in exploring my reaction to the book, not how the book illicited this reaction.

Of course it's an english class. And i get into the thesis writing once i've started. It's just so difficult (especially with a graphic novel) to come up with an interesting topic and thesis that can be 10 pages long while also keeping my interest. I hope it goes well.