The New Canon is a regular feature, contributed by Ted Gioia, focusing on great works of fiction published since 1985. These books represent the finest literature of the current era, and are gaining recognition as the new classics of our time. In this installment of The New Canon, Gioia looks at The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon.
The period leading up to World War II was the Age of Heroes in the United States. During this era, Americans were introduced to Buck Rogers (who first appeared in Amazing Stories in 1928), Dick Tracy (1931), Flash Gordon (1934), Roy Rogers (first film appearance in 1935), the Green Hornet (1936), The Phantom (1936), Superman (1938), Lassie (1938), Batman (1939) and Captain Marvel (1939). And then the real age of heroism began, with young American men going overseas to fight against the Axis powers, in a struggle that was perceived by the general public as a similarly unambiguous confrontation of good versus evil.
We should not be surprised, then, that Michael Chabon’s exploration of heroes and villains, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, should be set primarily during this same period. Much of the appeal of this fascinating book stems from Chabon’s ability to blend the sometimes heroic (or mock heroic) exploits of his characters with the feverish pop culture heroism of this period in American history. These different levels of heroism get hopelessly muddled in the course of the novel, but they never lose their charm. As Chabon realizes, even today we are all suckers for a story of truth, justice and the American way.
Not just his readers, but sometimes Chabon’s characters get confused between real and fictional heroism. Josef Kavalier, an exile from the Nazi occupation in his native Prague, arrives in New York in 1939 and soon finds himself enlisted by his Brooklyn cousin Sammy Clay in a scheme to create a new comic book. Their hero, the Escapist, becomes a huge success, largely because he is the one caped crusader who is not offering mere escapism: current events permeate his adventures, and the first issue of the comic book stands out for its cover depicting the Escapist delivering a haymaker to Hitler’s mug.
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