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Michael Chabon

Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands Paperback – Illustrated, Feb. 24 2009

by Michael Chabon (Author)

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Maps and Legends is an essay collection by American author Michael Chabon that was scheduled for official release on May 1, 2008, although some copies shipped two weeks early from various online bookstores. The book is Chabon's first book-length foray into nonfiction, with 16 essays, some previously published.[1] Several of these essays are defenses of the author's work in genre literature (such as science fiction, fantasy, and comics), while others are more autobiographical, explaining how the author came to write several of his most popular works.

Print length

210 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harper Perennial
Publication date

Feb. 24 2009
Dimensions

20.32 x 13.56 x 1.63 cm
ISBN-10

0061650927
ISBN-13

978-0061650925
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Product description

About the Author

Michael Chabon is the bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Moonglow and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, among many others. He lives in Berkeley, California with his wife, the novelist Ayelet Waldman, and their children.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Perennial; Illustrated edition (Feb. 24 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 210 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0061650927
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061650925
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 195 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 20.32 x 13.56 x 1.63 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #1,059,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #755 in Editing Guides (Books)
- #1,745 in Authorship (Books)
- #5,072 in Literary Essays (Books)

Customer Reviews:
39 ratings

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Michael Chabon

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Michael Chabon is the bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of seven novels – including The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and The Yiddish Policemen's Union – two collections of short stories, and one other work of non-fiction. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife and children.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

39 global ratings

5 star		57%
4 star		24%
3 star		9%
2 star		4%
1 star		6%

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Josie Boyce

Golem tastic

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 7, 2020

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Selection of memoir, the influence of genre, pulp,jewish identity that live in these reasonably short essays. Thinkers, each piece as they sit with you afterwards.

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Heinz

Better to read a "real" Michael Chabon book instead

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 24, 2018

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This is the published equivalent of the types of impassioned "lectures" I inflict on friends about music, films and books that mean a lot to me. Better to read a "real" Michael Chabon book instead. Start with Wonderboys or Kavalier & Clay

Eileen Shaw

Telling the truth when the truth matters most...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 28, 2011

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Sixteen essays on the subject of writing and the nature of the writer may not seem an enticing prospect, and it's true that some of these essays have subjects that wouldn't necessarily appeal to a wide readership. Others, however, are sparkling bright with ideas and insights, especially if you are not solely a reader/writer of mainstream fiction. Chabon is uncompromisingly on the side of writing as entertainment. Not as passive enjoyment but as speculative, adventurous, experience. He requires us to see science fiction - and all speculative writing, whether it is written by Nabakov (Ada, or, Ardor) or by Asimov, as equally legitimate in terms of its literary value. As he says, the present situation is moribund: "For even the finest writer of horror or sf or detective fiction, the bookstore, to paraphrase the LA funk band War, is a ghetto."

Much of what Chabon covers in this book is argument for a loosening of the restrictive boundaries between genres. He would like to invoke the notion of playfulness. Why must we always be bound by the marketing world into a rigid distinction of genre? He also writes entertainingly in this collection about Arthur Conan Doyle, Cormac McCarthy's The Road, M R James, and on the inception and concepts germaine to his own novels.

To this end his final piece in this collection one might well designate as his central argument in process. It is a dazzling piece of fiction entitled Golems I Have Known and is subtitled, A Trickster's Memoir. There is some excellent writing in this collection and this final essay is wholly delightful from beginning to end.

2 people found this helpful

Bernie Gourley

Essays about reading and writing in the hinterland of the literary domain--i.e. comic books, fan fiction, YA

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 7, 2017

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This book consists of 17 essays about reading and writing. As the book’s title--also the title of the second essay--suggests, there’s an analogy drawn between story and a map, but—more importantly-- Chabon proposes that the literary domain is a realm with frontiers and hinterlands. The central theme is that there is room for great discoveries if we stray from the center of the map were all is clear and well-defined. Literary fiction is the center. The hinterlands include a range of genres and approaches to story-telling that are often maligned as low-brow—e.g. fan fiction and comic books.

The book could be split into two parts, though the aforementioned theme cuts across all essays. The first 11 essays offer insight into maligned genres and their merits, but the next five shift gears into autobiographical telling of Chabon’s transformation into a writer. (The last essay, not present in some editions, could be seen as an epilogue to the entire work.) I’ll list the essays and give a hint about what each is about:

-“Trickster in a Suit of Lights”: This essay invites us to reconsider the connection between entertainment and literature, and in particular with respect to the modern short story.

-“Maps and Legends”: Here Chabon reflects upon the nature of a map and its analogy to the domain of fiction.

-“Fan Fictions: On Sherlock Holmes”: Fan fiction is maligned, and not entirely without reason. Even when it achieves great popularity, it’s often bad (e.g. “Fifty Shades…”) However, Chabon correctly suggests that we consider fan fiction too narrowly, including only that which reinforces our notions. He offers a great example of a character, Sherlock Holmes, who launched a thousand fan fictions, some of which are masterpieces in their own right.

-“Ragnarok Boy”: Mythology often seems tired and cliché, but there are reasons such stories survive across ages. Chabon explores what it is in Norse mythology that makes it an ongoing font of inspiration for writers.

-“On Daemons & Dust”: For a while, YA was the only genre with rising sales--much to the chagrin of those who felt this might herald the rise of a real world idiocracy. In this essay, Chabon describes what it is about Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series of fantasy books that pulls readers in—including the appeal of dark elements in stories.

-“Kids Stuff”: In this essay, Chabon considers the comic book and its evolution from kids’ stuff to a vast domain meant to appeal to a broad readership.

-“The Killer Hook”: This essay continues Chabon’s look at comic books, but through a specific example: “American Flagg!” a dystopian sci-fi comic book. Chabon proposes that “American Flagg!” spawned a new approach to comic book art and tone.

-“Dark Adventure”: This is about Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road.” Some topics are revisited, such as the appeal of dark and dystopian content. [For those unfamiliar, “The Road” is the story of a father and son wandering through a post-apocalyptic wasteland in search of some sort of stable community. McCarthy is the master of sparse prose, eschewing dialogue tags and maintaining a minimalist approach to his craft.

-“The Other James”: Here Chabon discusses the ghost story, using M.R. James’ story “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” as an exemplar.

-“The Landsman of the Lost”: Chabon discusses the comic strip work of Ben Katchor.

-“Thoughts on the Death of Will Eisner”: Eisner was a popular cartoonist, associated with such comic books as, “The Spirit.”

-“My Back Pages”: Here the book ventures into autobiographical territory as Chabon talks about his first dalliances with writing a novel.

-“Diving into the Wreck”: This continues Chabon’s telling of how he came to be a writer, and his early troubles in structuring a novel.

-“The Recipe for Life”: Here Chabon tells us about his introduction to Golems, a concept that would play an important role in one of his most influential works—an in the rest of the book. You’ll note the connection between fantastical devices and the telling of story that carries over from the first part.

-“Imaginary Homelands”: Chabon describes the role that is played by culture in forming a writer’s experience—both the culture one is living in and the cultural heritage that we each carry with us wherever we may roam.

-“Golems I Have Known”: This is one of the longer pieces and it presents the climax of Chabon’s tale of his transformation into a novelist. Golems as fictitious creatures built to facilitate certain truths are a central feature around which Chabon’s story is told.

-“Secret Skin”: [Note: This essay didn’t appear in the initial version of the book, and so your edition might not have it.] This essay invites the reader to reconsider the role that costumes and secret identities play for superheroes and how that need resonates with readers. In the process, this last essay sums up the reason why fantastical elements are so powerful in fiction.

There are only few graphics in the book, i.e. comic panels. Other than that there’s not much by way of ancillary matter, though there are recommended readings (oddly) interspersed within the index—rather than being a separate section.

I’d recommend this book for readers and writers. The essays are well-crafted and thought provoking.

9 people found this helpful

Dean Quarrell

Interesting, well-written essays about categories of narrative

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 30, 2017

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Mr. Chabon is certainly one of our best writers of fiction. This collection of essays explores his thoughts and feelings about his calling and his practice of it, salted with some notions about categorization and the effects thereof. Short version is that Michael Chabon loves so-called "genre" fiction, and wants to lift the stigma of "mere" entertainment attached to it. As interesting as these thoughts are - and they're well worth reading - his best shot at achieving the goal is to keep writing, both in the "literary" mode he does so well but also in the "genre" mode he's also mastered (see "Gentlemen of the Road" and "The Final Solution"). Having said that, I'll happily read anything he chooses to write; I'd just rather read his fiction than his essays. Let the work make its case.

5 people found this helpful

Caroline Niziol

A great read for academic lovers of fantasy and science fiction

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 20, 2012

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When Michael Chabon came to Davidson during my time as student, in 2008, I took feverish notes on his lecture. His phrases were memorable as he described science fiction as the "transvestite cousin at Thanksgiving dinner, his fabulous hat studiously ignored" and talked about his run-in with Yiddish fanatics.

Well, had I known that his talk -- and many other equally fantastic essays -- would be perfectly contained in Maps and Legends, I might have stopped compulsively taking notes and simply basked in his talk. This book is brilliant. Every essay offers a nugget of wisdom for people who feel torn at their love of genre fiction, or just resentful toward the academic establishment for discounting genre fiction books. Chabon has a knack for turning a clever phrase and sits at the border between academic writing and accessibility. He comes across as a genuine, likable writer -- not an easy feat.

I definitely recommend this book.

5 people found this helpful

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Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands Paperback – Illustrated, Feb. 24 2009

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