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,