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 Chabontastic Essays
Although I read quite a lot, I've never been that interested in reading about writers or writing. I usually don't care too much about the person behind the words, and the more I learn about the process of getting those words into my hands, the less power the writing tends to have over me. That said, Michael Chabon could write the phonebook and I'd probably check it out -- his command of prose and genre are such that he could probably craft a pretty intriguing story out of the yellow pages. So, when I saw the stunningly beautiful cover of this collection of essays, I picked it up and brought it home, completely unconcerned with the contents. The essays (many of which appeared previously in such publications as the New York Review Of Books, McSweeney's, Civilization, and Architectural Digest) fall into a few broad and sometimes overlapping categories: reviews/appreciations, in defense of genre, and influences his own work. In the first category are eloquent pieces on Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy trilogy, Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Ben Katchor's graphic novel Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer, Howard Chaykin's comic American Flagg!, Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, M.R. James' ghost stories, D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths, and comics legend Will Eisner. Actually, that list gives one a pretty good sense of just why Chabon has been so gung-ho about championing genre literature, as he does in several essays here. I've always agreed with his belief that genre writers tend to be critically marginalized, so none of his arguments were particularly fresh to me. However, for someone who's never really thought about it, they're probably the most articulate defense of genre available. Some may find his tone on this subject a little strident for their taste, but it never really rubbed me the wrong way (although, again, I agree with him). Finally, the essays about the genesis of his own books are excellent -- although probably better appreciated once you've read the books themselves. On the whole, the book is best for existing fans of Chabon, although most avid readers will discover individual essays that appeal to them.
 A needed critical counterpoint
Pulitzer-prize winning Chabon speaks to me and for me in this book of essays on writing. Chabon believes that fiction, specifically short fiction, has lost its power because of the limitations placed upon it by critics and other literary types, who turn up their noses at anything that smells like genre, unless it's written by an author who has an uncommon style. Direct prose that uses plot as much as character is anathema to these people, to which Chabon says, "get over it." Chabon, an unabashed fan of genre work (science fiction, fantasy, comics), provides a needed counterpoint to the New Yorker style where nothing ever happens in a story.
Other essays in this slim volume cover some of Chabon's influences. I especially enjoyed his memoir of Will Eisner as well as the critical commentary on one of my favorite comics, Howard Chaykin's American Flagg!. But even the essays on things I was more unfamiliar with, such as the use of the golem and Yiddish, were fascinating. Chabon's easy style and obvious enthusiasm for his subjects help make this volume fly by. In the end, you really do want more--although if it takes Chabon away from his fiction writing, perhaps we are better off with just this little bit.
A writer and reader on why literature matters
When I was a college student in the 1980s, Michael Chabon's first novel, "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," came as a huge revelation and a relief. Until then, I had feared that our generation was going to be led by the likes of Bret Easton Ellis and Tama Janowitz. This was not a good feeling.
Reading "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," on the other hand, gave me a very good feeling. It was the same feeling that helped make me an addicted reader in the first place, of not wanting to put a book down, refusing to set it aside for a meal or sleep.
Now we have Chabon's first book of nonfiction, a collection of essays in which he comes clean with his real literary love: what is condescendingly called genre fiction, otherwise known as stories people actually want to read.
This is in contrast to the higher brow reading matter that often feels like the literary equivalent of vitamins and wheat germ. You know it's supposed to be good for you, but it's not much fun to take in.
"Maps and Legends" is not a manifesto. It's an essay collection. But it has a common thread running throughout: Chabon's love for the written word and defense of forms that have been dismissed into genre ghettoes not worthy of the attention of our finest writers.
Because this book is a collection of essays written for different occasions and differing publications, it varies quite a bit but it's all pretty easy going down. I liked his essay about golems, but it didn't resonate for me nearly as strongly as his piece about "Norse Gods and Giants" - now known as "D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths" - which Chabon loved as a child. My sister taught me to read from that book and I can still see the illustrations of the cow licking the universe into existence, and the three Norns, who are sort of like fates, spinning strands of yarn that represent human lives. I won't even go into the trickster god Loki and his repellent ship covered in toenail clippings.
Other pieces in "Maps and Legends" point to new reading opportunities currently buried in old anthologies, particularly a ghost story writer named M.R. James, whom Chabon refers to as "the other James." Henry gets all the love now but back in the day it was M.R. who got the readers and Chabon thinks he should get some back. "For the central story of M.R. James ... is ultimately the breathtaking fragility of life, of 'reality,' of all the structures that we have erected to defend ourselves from our constant nagging suspicion that underlying everything is chaos, brutal and unreasoning." That sounds like real literature to me.
As a still-recovering English major I particularly appreciate smart, appreciative, nonturgid literary criticism. I still don't get why anyone wants to spend her life in the field of literary studies merely to tear apart her subject. Chabon not only loves literature, he wants to be read and understood and not just by a few PhDs who have learned a particular incomprehensible ugly jargon. For that, I thank him. And I hope he helps a new generation love their literature without shame. I'm going to do my part by looking up the works of M.R. James.
The key to the landscape of imagination
This is the first book that collects novelist Michael Chabon's essays originally written for a variety of publications and audiences across a decade or longer. It is a product of the Dave Eggers/McSweeney's publishing venture and like some of the other McSweeney products, proceeds go to benefit the 826 National project that funds tutoring, writing and reading programs for kids. How and why it came into being aside, it is strongly conceived and progresses lucidly through what emerges as a profound reflection on one writer's influences and inspirations. It's as if Chabon had set out to write a book like Stephen King's "On Writing," Eudora Welty's "One Writer's Beginnings," or even Sartre's "The Words."
The titular essay, "Maps and Legends," harks back to Chabon's childhood in the then newly minted city of Columbia, Maryland, before his parents divorced. He introduces the theme of landscape in the imagination, and the role of maps and legends--"legends" meaning "keys" to the maps but also presaging what he reveals about his early reading passions. "Maps and Legends" is the second essay in the chronological order; the first is Chabon's complaint that literary fiction has come down to plotless, moment-of-truth fiction while science fiction, mysteries, thrillers, fantasy, ghost stories, comics and other forms are automatically denigrated as "genre" and waved off the bus. Accordingly, all of the essays taken altogether make a serious case for the art of entertainment and the empowerment of imagination. They also offer up a look at how Chabon came to write his own stories, especially under the influence of legends ranging from the Norse gods to golems.
A word of praise is due the cover artist. The hardcover dust jacket is shortened, textless, and has a hole in the middle of the front. The jacket itself is all illustration filled with the creatures that haunt myths and legends. Chabon's name is embossed on the area not covered by the jacket, rising over this imaginary landscape, and the title appears through the hole. Take a look at the "acknowledgments" page, too, for an original non-verbal rendering.
Excellent Collection of Essays
The work has some unique themes on comedy and other classic
topics. A section covers the interesting life of
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle attended medical school.
He had been poor as a child, although his grandfather was
a successful artist. A comic section depicts Howard Chaykin's
comic art.
Stories of Holmes center around the activities of sinister
lodgers in board houses and/or people who lock up loved ones.
The author tells of ghost story themes in unique genres
like Balzac, Poe, Kipling and most early inventors.
A Christmas Carol reference alludes to greed, pride
and excess ambition.
The concept of a Golem is introduced. Golem is an
artificial being with human-like characteristics made from
clay or a mud-like substance. Linguistically, Golem is
Hebrew for a lump brought to life by mystical means.
Overall, the presentation is unique. Perhaps, there are
too many disparate themes in the book. Nonetheless, the
presentation gets a good review .
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