While an autobiography is the story of oneself, graphic narratives are independent stories—which can be fiction or nonfiction—that combine the forces of words and images. Autographics, in turn, is a combination of these two genres and enables the authors/artists to persuade their readers to see and believe in their memories of the past events, of their hopes and dreams, by relying heavily on images and words. This paper analyzes the autobiographical elements in two such graphic narratives, Maus by Art Spiegelman and A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories by Eisner Will, by comparing their narrative techniques, style, and characterization. Both Spiegelman and Will are Jews and depict in their works issues which were of serious concern to the nineteenth century society, such as denial of ethnic identity to Jewish people, racial discrimination, disillusionment, and violence, portraying them through powerful images and words. |
