Pulitzer Prize-winning illustrator Art Spiegelman will discuss his latest work, “In the Shadow of No Towers,” at a free public lecture tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Jacqua Concert Hall at The Shedd Auditorium, 285 E. Broadway.
“In the Shadow of No Towers,” a collection of comics, recounts the story of Spiegelman and his family witnessing firsthand the Sept. 11. destruction of the World Trade Center towers. Horrified both by the attack and by the official U.S. response, Spiegelman spent two years inking a series of provocative comics expressing his personal response.
The book was described by O Magazine as a “post-traumatic masterpiece.” But when the strips first appeared, only one mainstream U.S. publication, the Jewish Daily Forward, would publish the work.
Spiegelman, a former editor for the New Yorker, received the Pulitzer Prize for his graphic novel “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale,” which describes his father’s experience in Auschwitz.
Spiegelman’s work is the centerpiece of the Reading Project, an initiative of the University’s Comparative Literature Program. The project has engaged hundreds of students and faculty members in an exploration of the ideas expressed in the book and the free-speech issues raised by the difficulties the author encountered in finding a publisher.
“Our goal is to help foster an engaged intellectual community both on campus and off and to forge new connections between the humanities and Eugene community,” said Lisa Freinkel, project organizer and the director of the Comparative Literature Program.
No admission will be charged for Spiegelman’s talk, but audience members will need tickets to be seated. To obtain tickets, contact the University’s Comparative Literature Program at (541) 346-3986.