ESSAY CEMETERY

1. Introduction: Spiegelman's Maus and Ricoeur's concept of narrative time Art Spiegelman is the author of Maus , a two-volume book in cartoon form. The book is an autobiography as well as a biography of Art's father, Vladek, who was a Holocaust survivor. Maus moves back and forth between scenes from Art's life in New York City and depictions of Vladek in the Holocaust. Spiegelman explores his father's past, his own past and his own present as part of the struggle he experiences in being the child of a Holocaust survivor. Throughout the work, Spiegelman's story is closely twined with that of his father. Indeed, the narrative moves between time frames so frequently that story of father and story of son begin to merge, and Spiegelman's identity becomes closely associated with the life of his father. Paul Ricoeur's concept, which he develops in his essay "Narrative Time," is a valuable aid in understanding the role of these shifts be...

Ricoeur, Paul. "Narrative Time."   Narrative Dynamics: Essays on Time, Plot, Closure, and Frames . Ed. Brian Richardson. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2002. 35-45. Print. 1. Presuppositions Narrativity and temporality are closely related. Language refers constantly to temporality, and temporality is necessary for narrative. Time is not, in regards to narrative, simply a linear succession of moments. On a superficial level, time is that "within" which events take place. On a deeper level, time is historicality- emphasis placed on the weight of the past. Plot is the "intelligible whole that governs a succession of events in any story". As such the plot is characterized by temporal complexity. 2. What occurs happens "in" time We will present an analysis of time and an analysis of narrativity, and relate them. Time must be considered by what happens "in" it. Time is subjective, according to the importance we attribute to the e...