On Chapman, Ellin, and Sherif's <em>Comics, the Holocaust and Hiroshima</em>

Abstract

On Chapman, Ellin, and Sherif's Comics, the Holocaust and Hiroshima Liat Steir-Livny Comics, the Holocaust and Hiroshima: Persecution, Genocide and the Atomic Bomb. By Jane L. Chapman, Dan Ellin, and Adam Sherif. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2015. 95 pp., ISBN 978-1-137-40723-8 (hc), US $67.50; ISBN 978-1-137-40725-2 (ebook) US $49.99. Jane Chapman, Dan Ellin, and Adam Sherif's Comics, the Holocaust and Hiroshima: Persecution, Genocide and the Atomic Bomb focuses on graphic novels that reference World War II, the Holocaust, and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The book covers a long period, ranging from graphic novels published during World War II up to the present. These graphic novels were written by artists who had personally witnessed or been the victims of these catastrophes and by those who had heard about the events from afar. The volume aims to prove that graphic novels have value as historical resources, and that they can contribute to the fields of memory studies, trauma studies, and cultural studies. The varying roles of graphic novels are introduced in different chapters that describe how they add to the "historian's palette" (11) and how they can be used to enhance comprehension of the past (77). They possess an ability to transform images into narratives, expose emotions and experiences, explore the space between reality and representation, and represent the incomprehension experienced during and after traumatic events (9), with the visual working as a translation of the trauma (72). [End Page 246] Leaning on the research of Hayden White and others, the authors rightfully claim that every historical narrative is mediated: "There are no ideal sources. Every source will pose problems and must be assessed critically with proper acknowledgement of its limitations" (77). Graphic novels (which are referred to as "Comics"), they correctly argue, can revive subjective perceptions, represent events that were not recorded, and reflect the inner worlds of the protagonists. Chapters 1 and 5 (the introduction and conclusion) bookend the three main chapters of the volume, which discuss different types of graphic novels. Chapter 2 analyzes fictional stories about life under Nazism that were published in the United States by the Quality Comics Group between 1939 and 1945. Chapter 3 offers an analysis of the Paroles d'Etoiles (2009), which rely on testimonies and memories of survivors who were children in Vichy France during the Holocaust. The chapter discusses the way the graphic novel reflects the survivors' inner worlds, which are host to haunting guilt, feelings of abandonment, and identity crises. Chapter 4 analyzes Barefoot Gen and I Saw It, both by Keiji Nakazawa, in which he reveals his memories of being saved from the bombing of Hiroshima. Nakazawa's work is first-hand testimony that was recorded at a time considerably later than the events it describes, and his novels are analyzed as representations of post-traumatic stress disorder. The use of the graphic novel medium to complement trauma, memory, and cultural studies provides important insights. But the authors' goal of proving that the graphic novels are a "historical tool that derives its strength from the text/image relationship for representation" (75) reduces the vast differences among the different works. The authors would have done well to highlight more carefully the differences between primary and secondary sources and their "historical" meaning: Some graphic novels were written during the 1940s, and some many years later; some were written by people who had vaguely heard about World War II atrocities, and others were written by survivors of these events. Another problem regarding the historical perspective of the book is apparent in the way the various historical events are all lumped together as traumas visited on "innocent victims" (70). The book refers to both the atomic bomb attacks on Japan and the Holocaust as being equivalent traumas: "National Socialist persecution and genocide in Europe, and the U.S.'s use of the atomic bomb against Japan—aspects of extreme trauma that took place between 1939 and 1945" (2). The book's goal is to explore [End Page 247] how "comics" capture and address these "breaches of humanity in the Second World War" (2). According to the writers...