Art Spiegelman's 'Wild Party' loosens
hi m from the Holocaust ' s grip. ARTHUR J. MAGIDA SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
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There are two reasons why Art Spiegelman is lucky to be alive.
Reason #1: By virtue of Mr. Spiegelman being a world-class chain smoker,
one of the best since Edward R. Morrow, he should, according to medical
experts, have succumbed long ago to lung or throat cancer. Rest assured,
he shows no signs of either. His breath is full, his
stamina is A-OK, and his drive is stuck in New York-
certified, pedal-to-the-metal, fifth gear.
which, statistically, means that they should have been
killed. That, of course, also would have killed the
chances of little Artie entering the world. His older brother, Richieu,
whom he never met, was killed in Auschwitz. His mother committed
suicide when he was 20. His father, Vladek, a bourgeois entrepreneur
before the war, emerged from Auschwitz probably more crotchety, self-
absorbed, and self-referential than before.
PHOTO BY ZION OZERI
Reason #2: Both his parents were in Auschwitz,