But I Live

Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust

by Charlotte Schallié, Editor

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Pub Date May 24 2022 | Archive Date May 19 2022

University of Toronto Press | New Jewish Press

Comics, Graphic Novels, Manga | History | OwnVoices

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Description

"BUT I LIVE is the most powerful collection of non-fiction ‘graphic novellas’ of the Holocaust since Art Spiegelman’s MAUS."
James E. Young, author of AT MEMORY’S EDGE: AFTER-IMAGES OF THE HOLOCAUST IN CONTEMPORARY ART AND ARCHITECTURE

In the gorgeous, one-of-a-kind collection BUT I LIVE, editor Charlotte Schallié brings together three autobiographical graphic novellas that four child survivors of the Holocaust - Emmie Arbel, Nico and Rolf Kamp and David Schaffer- created in collaboration with graphic artists Miriam Libicki, Gilad Seliktar and Barbara Yelin.
These pictorial narratives depict the harrowing yet inspiring experiences of the child-witnesses in a variety of visual styles, each one expertly hand-rendered by a different artist. Schallié complements these first-hand accounts with historical essays, an illustrated postscript from the artists, and personal afterwords from each of the survivors.
The recent rise in antisemitic behaviour around the globe amplifies the need for more Holocaust survivor-centred stories. As we approach a post-witness era, with no living survivors, life stories become an invaluable archive. By turning these testimonies into graphic novels, BUT I LIVE aims to teach new generations about the Holocaust, genocide and human rights.

NOTE: Due to file size limitations, the ARC available from this platform features one of the three graphic novellas. The full collection is available upon request from the publisher.

MIRIAM LIBICKI holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is an award-winning graphic novelist.

GILAD SELIKTAR is an acclaimed graphic novelist and children’s book illustrator.

BARBARA YELIN studied illustration at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. In 2014, Yelin published the award-winning graphic novel Irmina.

CHARLOTTE SCHALLIÉ is a professor and chair in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies at the University of Victoria.

Advance Praise

“Three candid, powerfully compelling, childhood stories about young lives blighted by Nazi tyranny, illustrated as if for children’s books, by artists whose interpretations do not waver from confronting the unbearable.”
Anna Porter, author of Kasztner's Train: The True Story of an Unknown Hero of the Holocaust and The Ghosts of Europe: Journeys through Central Europe’s Troubled Past and Uncertain Future

"Too many survivors left us taking their untold testimony to eternity. But I Live transforms memory into accessible beautiful images in one of the most popular art forms.”
Michel Kichka, author and illustrator of Second Generation: The Things I Didn't Tell My Father, (Dargaud Publishers, France 2012)

“But I Live is an essential document. Libicki, Yelin, and Seliktar masterfully use the unique narrative strengths of comics to convey survivors’ experiences with sensitivity and humanity, allowing readers to experience and understand these personal accounts with appropriate empathy and urgency.”
Nate Powell, artist of the March trilogy and Save It for Later: Promises, Protest, and the Urgency of Protest

“But I Live is a path-breaking book that elucidates the complex relationships between story and image in Holocaust recounting. It is equally a book about relationships themselves: between the artists and the survivors and then all of us who are – literally – drawn into their vital conversations.”
Henry Greenspan, author of On Listening to Holocaust Survivors: Beyond Testimony

When you combine these narratives (in words and pictures) with the scholarship, and the humanity of all the authors, this book provides an indispensable and true way of both confronting the past and questioning the present and the future.

"A marvel of cross disciplinary invention.”
Ken Krimstein, Cartoonist, New Yorker Magazine and author of The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth

“Three candid, powerfully compelling, childhood stories about young lives blighted by Nazi tyranny, illustrated as if for children’s books, by artists whose interpretations do not waver from...