earticle

영어

Analyzing Art Spiegelman’s groundbreaking graphic novel, MAUS in which the author represents the story of his father, Vladek, a Auschwitz survivor, this paper aims to delve into how literary representation works in MAUS in terms of ethics, politics, and aesthetics. As theoretical scaffoldings, the paper utilizes Jacques Ranciere’s theory of aesthetics-politics, Scott McCloud’s in-depth theoretical explanation of comics as a genre, Gilles Deleuze’s politics of faciality, and Giorgio Agamben’s philosophical analysis of testimony as lacuna and ethico-ontological deconstruction of bio-politics in Auschwitz. The paper argues that representation of historical atrocity through comics can attain its legitimacy through aesthetic deconstruction of representational hierarchy and philosophical reflection on the universal fatality of humanity. Later, the paper also proposes that ethical power of MAUS lies in readers’ active participation through imagination empowered by visualization of communication between the Auschwitz survivor, Vladek, and his son, Artie. This communication results in eliciting the universal accountability and responsibility of every human being for death camp of Auschwitz.