A graphic novel, in American and British usage, a type of text combining words and images—essentially a comic, although the term most commonly refers to a complete story presented as a book rather than a periodical.
The term graphic novel is contentious. From the 1970s, as the field of comic studies was first emerging as an academic discipline, scholars and others have attempted to define the word comics and to generate a critical terminology appropriate to support that definition. The debate over so-called graphic novels touches upon this complex situation. For many, the word comics denotes a periodical for children, published on a weekly or monthly basis, sold at newsstands or in speciality comic book stores, often with pages devoted to advertising and, when intended for younger readers, competitions and puzzles. In contrast, graphic novel is usually taken to mean a long comic narrative for a mature audience, published in hardback or paperback and sold in bookstores, with serious literary themes and sophisticated artwork.
Read more in-depth about graphic novels on Britannica.
Art Spiegelman, (born February 15, 1948, Stockholm, Sweden), American author and illustrator whose Holocaust narratives Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History (1986) and Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (1991) helped to establish comic storytelling as a sophisticated adult literary medium. Check out more about Spiegelman on Britannica.
A Tennessee school board voted Jan. 10 to ban the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Maus,” a graphic novel detailing the deeply personal tale of author Art Spiegelman’s Jewish parents and their struggles during and after the Holocaust. Hillary Chute, distinguished professor of English, art, and design at Northeastern, wrote her doctoral thesis on “Maus,” and worked closely with Spiegelman on a follow-up book, “MetaMaus: A Look Inside a Modern Classic.”
Chute has since written her own book reflecting on the classic’s lessons for this time in history called, “Maus Now,” which will be published in the fall of 2022. The McMinn County, Tennesee, school board cited profanity and nudity as the reasons why “Maus” was removed from the eighth grade curriculum. News@Northeastern spoke to Chute about the ban and the ongoing lessons of “Maus.” Her comments were edited for brevity and clarity.
Read Chute's interview here.
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