Back to results

Graduate Studies

Traumatic Appropriation in Maus and In The Shadow of No Towers

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

There are immense ethical concerns surrounding depicting another’s trauma and turning another’s trauma into a commodity for sale in the marketplace. Of these problems, competition and the denigration of the narratives of trauma sufferers are two of the most pervasive problems. Though comics are often considered low art – unfit for serious themes – through an examination of Art Spiegelman’s In the Shadow of No Towers and Maus, this thesis explores how one can utilize structural qualities of comics to create a moral depiction of trauma by embracing intertextuality and duplicating the structures of trauma. Intertextuality can allow an artist to deploy the cultural capital of certain traumatic events towards the recognition of other traumatic events.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts (MA)
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
English
Grantor dc:publisher.institution
Graduate Studies
Year dc:date.issued
2015

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Nolan, Liam
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Beaty, Bart

Subjects

dc:subject × 1

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
Language dc:language.iso
eng

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:11023/2640

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of Calgary
Base URL
ucalgary.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Nolan, Liam. Traumatic Appropriation in Maus and In The Shadow of No Towers. Graduate Studies, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2640