Let me start by saying that this is the coolest cover and dust jacket ever. There are actually three overlapping jackets, each with its own setting, and when you peel them back you’ll find knights, zombies, and fairies hidden behind rocks and trees. Physically, this is now the most beautiful book I own.
Michael Chabon’s known for his fiction: Wonder Boys, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and his new alternate-history noir mystery, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union (the rights to which were just acquired by the Coen Brothers).
Maps and Legends, his new essay collection, is unbridled genre apologism, and a breath of fresh air for a speculative writer (and reader) like myself. Chabon argues for the right to be entertained as a reader, as he finds much of “contemporary fiction” a bit dry. How many first-person autobiographical accounts of family drama and mental illness do we need? What happened to plots?! He champions writers who brave the “Borderlands” between mainstream and “genre fiction” (fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, etc.), individuals like Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, Cormac MacCarthy, and John Fowles, who are often unfortunately lumped with the most banal sci-fi in your local bookstore.
Publisher’s Weekly recently ripped into Maps and Legends, labeling Chabon “bitter and defensive” and harshly predicting that “only his fellow comic-book lovers will be interested in his tirade.” Which is a strange criticism, considering how few of the essays in Maps and Legends actually deal with comics.
Topics and authors covered include Sherlock Holmes, Norse mythology, Pullman’s His Dark Materials, golems, MacCarthy’s The Road, and the life and death of Will Eisner. Chabon’s voice is playful throughout; you can feel his enthusiasm and passion. It’s easy to get infected by his childlike delight in stories of adventure and imagination. Later essays get more personal, as Chabon explains how comics, science-fiction, mystery, and fantasy influenced his own work as a writer.
If you’ve never read any speculative fiction, Publisher’s Weekly may be right: you won’t find much of interest here. But if you have, you’ll likely be as delighted as me to hear a respected, Pulitzer-winning author defend the reputation of genre fiction. At the end of this collection, I was both inspired to keep writing speculative fiction, and hopeful about its future in mainstream publishing.
Rating: 8 (out of 10)