A series of linked essays analyzes works of literature important to the author, argues for the importance of enjoying a diverse range of reading options, and explores the author's own writings from a perspective of personal history.
Michael Chabon has become literature's fiercest advocate for the value and vitality of genre fiction, comic books, and the so-called lowbrow. This aesthetic can be seen reflected in his own works: his serialized swashbuckling tale which became GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD; his parallel reality detective tale THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION; and of course the heroes of his Pulitzer-Prize-winning THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER CLAY were comic book writers. MAPS AND LEGENDS, a collection of his essays, further articulates Chabon's aesthetic stance, as he writes passionately about Sherlock Holmes, nautical tales, distant lands, and the power of golems. Chabon is particularly skilled at showing how the themes of genre fiction regularly permeate the borders of so-called literary fiction, as he deftly shows in his analysis of Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD, a perfect example of high art meeting boyish adventure.
- Genre: Language + Art + Disciplines, Literary Collections, Literary Criticism
- Subgenre: Reading Skills, Books + Reading, Essays
- Publisher: McSweeneys Books
- Pages: 222
- Language: English
- Format: hardcover
- Release Date: April 28, 2008
- Date Published: April 28, 2008
- Author: Michael Chabon