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Literature & Fiction |
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Maps and Legends
written by Michael Chabon
Studio : McSweeney's
by McSweeney's
Publisher : McSweeney's
Released : 2008-05-01
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9781932416893
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 13 reviews)
List Price : $24.00
Our Price : $13.88
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Product Description |
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Michael Chabon's sparkling first book of nonfiction is a love song in 16 parts — a series of linked essays in praise of reading and writing, with subjects running from ghost stories to comic books, Sherlock Holmes to Cormac McCarthy. Throughout, Chabon energetically argues for a return to the thrilling, chilling origins of storytelling, rejecting the false walls around "serious" literature in favor of a wide-ranging affection. His own fiction, meanwhile, is explored from the perspective of personal history: post-collegiate desperation sparks his debut, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh; procrastination and doubt reveal the way toward Wonder Boys; a love of comics and a basement golem combine to create the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay; and an enigmatic Yiddish phrasebook unfurls into The Yiddish Policeman's Union. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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.
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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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Excellent Collection |
In my opinion, Michael Chabon is one of the elite writers of our time. I buy his books as soon as they come out, and usually I get very sad as I near the end, because he writes so well that I just want the story to go on forever. Maps and Legends is a collection of mostly previously published nonfiction that covers a whole range of ideas and topics. And it serves as a reminder of what good prose can do, no matter the genre.
The initial piece is likely the most famous, the strident defense of genre fiction that first appeared in issue 10 of McSweeney's. While I agree with much of Chabon's assertions about genre fiction, both in this essay and others, I think what seems to be missing is the obvious: good writing will/should trump genre conventions. While the writing of China Mieville may not be quite mainstream, it has a chance to break through because he writes so well. The reason that a lot of the pulp fiction of which Chabon is so fond gets no respect is because it honestly isn't all that good. However, his appeal that divisions in genre be eradicated and all fiction in the bookstore be shelved together makes some sense to me, and it is welcome to read.
Insightful essays on Howard Chaykin's American Flagg!, M.R. James, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have stuck with me, and I will have to read more by these authors in the near future. His review of Cormac McCarthy's The Road does so much more than review the book; it offers a perspective on apocalyptic fiction, and its place within literary fiction as opposed to science fiction.
In `Thoughts on the Death of Will Eisner,' Chabon shies away from listing accomplishments and hagiography, and instead focuses on the more overlooked aspect of Eisner's work: his savvy as a businessman. And his personal history with his first novel and his unfinished second novel make for compelling reads. In each case, his sharp and melodious prose make these essays seem like stories, yet one never gets the sense that Chabon's actual voice is lost to the voice of Chabon the narrator.
The book itself is beautifully produced as well. The cover contains a large gold `X' with the title printed across it, and Chabon's name sits at the top with the `O' a moon. Three dust jackets, each with a different magical scene are layered, creating a provocative scene individually and collectively. And the pages are acid free and quite thick, as most of the books published by McSweeney's are.
Though one may not always agree with the stances Chabon makes in these essays, Maps and Legends is required reading for any fan of genre fiction. Though he just published two novels last year, I can hardly wait for the next. If you haven't sampled his fiction, please do yourself a favor and pick up Wonder Boys, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, or Kavalier & Clay the next time you are at a bookstore. You won't be disappointed. |
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