Maus and graphic novels in general, are always bilingual. The visual, and visual language is perhaps our most powerful communication tool; it is through the visual that we construct and structure the world as we know it. The visual is pan-cultural, even more so than music! The “graphics” in Maus add a dimension and a level of contact that is unique and universal at the same time. Movies with subtitles are close, but only with a graphic novel is time on our side. We can dwell on the images as long as we wish—we don’t have to keep up with 24 frames per second. The graphic novel is the ideal “common reading” for LaGuardia, and the subject could not be more important.

Bruce W. Brooks