Narrative:Outside Visits- Art Spiegelman

Art Spiegelman is a cartoonist who is best known for his graphic novel Maus. At the Miami Book Fair Spiegelman focused mostly on his current work. His current book is called The Parade and it is an artist odyssey of Si Lewins paintings. It was created to represent the marching parades of people from the end of WWI to WWII to then end at the Korean War. Spiegelman stated that this was his way of sending a message to my generation and future generations to come. The end of one war is the beginning of another and to avoid this cycle we must be aware. That is why he created the book in an accordion format, so that the painting/pages speak to one another. They are passing the message down from one painting to the next.

Art Spiegelman also chose to not include any text making the book's message based off the images inside of it. The images are so powerful and have so much meaning that to add text would just distract from the true message of the work. The images stand strong on its own and not using test also it to be “read” and interpreted by any cultural group in the world. Art Spiegelman is a very successful cartoonist because he is not afraid of what others might think. He has a purpose and a message he wants to get across and he does not hesitate to do so even if that means breaking the rules.