Art Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers: 9-11 and the Representation of Trauma

This paper demonstrates how in his graphic novel In the Shadow of No Towers Art Spiegelman reads the events of 9/11 through the conceptual screen of the Holocaust. The questions that are raised in this connection concern the legitimacy of speaking about catastrophes, the stylistic means necessary to avoid sensationalism and kitsch, and finally the role of political commitment in the process of mourning or working-through.