In Graphic Novels as a Literature: Overcoming a Stereotype, Michael Kneeland analyzes what exactly constitutes a work as literature, and applies these criteria to graphic novels. He begins by describing his own experience with finding literary value in various graphic novels and how these works shattered his preconceived notions that graphic novels were, “silly, trite works that hack writers produced for little boys and immature men. In short, I viewed the graphic novel medium as though it had never left the Golden Age of comic books— the time from the 1930s through the 1950s when superheroes like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, et al, were first introduced.” Kneeland goes on to explain how he discovered that graphic novels could indeed delve into subjects deeper than the various ways heroes beat up bad guys.  In fact, because the term graphic novel pertains only to the way the writing is presented and formatted, the content is without limits. Kneeland asserts that, in order to be considered literature, a work must:

1.     Contain some amount of writing

2.     Be quantifiable within one of the four rhetorical modes: exposition, argumentation, description, or narration

3.     If a narrative, the work must have a logical conflict, a cohesive plot structure, relatable characters, and a variety of effective literary elements

4.     Transcend the culture and time period in which it was written and be easily applicable to other cultures and time periods

Kneeland specifically references Maus in his Appendix as an example of a graphic novel that meets these criteria. And I would agree. Maus II certainly contains some amount of writing, it is a narration (non-fiction) and it contains a logical conflict (Art struggling with his relationship with his father and with the creation of his book), relatable characters (Art’s vulnerable honesty intensifies the reality of his character and his story), and literary elements (predominantly symbolism). Maus also contains a sense of universality. The violence and terror of the holocaust was not merely restricted to Jews. The racism, prejudice, and hatred it represents are broadly applicable to human nature in general.

http://englishteacherman.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/graphicnovels/