Line #31 Creator/MichaelChabon


1	[[quoteright:290:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/10822_9770.jpg]]
2	Michael Chabon (born May 24, 1963) is an American writer of both [[LitFic literary]] and genre fiction. He has achieved the unprecedented goal of appealing to both literary snobs who despise genre fiction, and genre fiction snobs who despise the literati. Sometimes even at the same time. He has won both a UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize for Literature, and a UsefulNotes/HugoAward for best ScienceFiction Novel of the Year.
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4	Most of his books are, in part, about Judaism or Jewish people. He has written {{Fantasy}}, [[MysteryFiction Mystery]], and AlternateHistory -- and even when he isn't writing genre fiction, he often writes about it.
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6	He also worked on films such as ''Film/SpiderMan2'' and ''Film/JohnCarter'', as well as having co-written the ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' ''Short Treks'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDiscoveryShortTreksE02Calypso Calypso]]". He was the showrunner during Season 1 of ''Series/StarTrekPicard''.
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8	!!Works by Michael Chabon include:
9	* ''The Mysteries of Pittsburgh'' - A ComingOfAge novel that explored a BisexualLoveTriangle.
10	* ''Film/WonderBoys'' - Made into a movie starring Creator/MichaelDouglas and Creator/TobeyMaguire. The screenplay was nominated for an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward.
11	* ''The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay'' - Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. This was not, technically, a genre novel, but it was about UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks, about as geeky a subject as one could want.
12	* ''Summerland'' - Best-selling YA fantasy novel about kids saving the world by playing baseball.
13	* ''Literature/TheFinalSolution'' - A mystery novella starring an unnamed elderly detective who might be (read: obviously is) Franchise/SherlockHolmes.
14	* ''The Yiddish Policemen's Union'' - An AlternateHistory noir novel set in Alaska. Winner of the UsefulNotes/HugoAward.
15	* ''Gentlemen of the Road'' - A more traditional adventure novel. Chabon himself dubbed it "Jews with swords."
16	* ''Manhood for Amateurs'' - A collection of autobiographical essays.
17	* ''The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man'' - A children's book about the titular superhero (yes, really).
18	* ''Telegraph Avenue'' - A novel about record-store owners in north Oakland, threatened by a megastore.
19	* ''Moonglow'' - A semi-fictionalized memoir of Chabon's dying grandfather, a World War II veteran, engineer and rocket enthusiast.
20	* ''Pops: Fatherhood in Pieces'' - Chabon's third book of essays.
21	----
22	!!Works by Michael Chabon with pages on this Wiki:
23	[[index]]
24	* ''Literature/TheAmazingAdventuresOfKavalierAndClay''
25	* ''Literature/TheFinalSolution''
26	* ''Literature/GentlemenOfTheRoad''
27	* ''Literature/TheMysteriesOfPittsburgh''
28	* ''Literature/{{Summerland}}''
29	* ''Literature/WonderBoys''
30	* ''Literature/TheYiddishPolicemensUnion''
31	[[/index]]
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33	!!Other works by Michael Chabon contain examples of:
34	* AllJewsAreAshkenazi: Ashkenazi Jews appear in most of his works, although they are not the only ones. In fact, there is a running theme that the non-Ashkenazim characters are usually more faithfully observant:
35	** He set out to turn this trope on its head with ''Literature/GentlemenOfTheRoad'', which prominently features an Abyssinian Jew and the Khazars, a kingdom of Turkic Jews. It does, however, feature an Ashkenazi Jew who is very far from home.
36	** ''The Yiddish Policemen's Union'' is a notable straight example, envisioning an alternate universe in which Israel was a non-starter and instead a Jewish free state was formed by Ashkenazi Jews in Alaska. Even they are balanced by Berko Shemets, who is a half-Tligit (Alaskan native) convert and one of the most religious characters in the novel.
37	** In ''Wonder Boys'', the Warshaw family has three children adopted from Korea, all of whom are relatively observant Jews.
38	* AuthorAppeal:
39	** This is likely the reason he writes so much "low brow" genre fiction; he likes to write in genres that he genuinely ''enjoys'' reading.
40	** Aside from that, Chabon (who is Jewish) loves Jewish history and culture. It figures prominently in most of his books. ''Kavalier and Clay'' focuses on superheroes as figures of Jewish vengeance, while ''The Yiddish Polcemen's Union'' is an AlternateHistory story steeped in Jewish history and culture.
41	%%* BigApplesauce:
42	* DisappearedDad / MissingMom: Frequently. Art Bechstein's mom in ''Literature/TheMysteriesOfPittsburgh'', Sammy Clay's dad in ''Literature/TheAmazingAdventuresOfKavalierAndClay'', Ethan Feld's mom in ''Literature/{{Summerland}}'', Meyer Landsman's dad in ''Literature/TheYiddishPolicemensUnion'', etc.
43	* GenreThrowback: Frequently does this in literary form (see {{Reconstruction}}).
44	* PurpleProse: Is known for this, with ''Gentlemen of the Road'' being a particularly thick example.
45	* {{Reconstruction}}: He's one of the most respected writers in the modern American literary world, yet many of his books take on subjects usually seen as meaningless pop culture, as if to prove that they ''can'' have literary merit if done right.
46	** ''Literature/GentlemenOfTheRoad'' - Reconstructs TwoFistedTales and pulp adventure stories.
47	** ''Literature/TheAmazingAdventuresOfKavalierAndClay'' - Reconstructs [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] superhero stories by telling a story from the POV of the men who wrote them, showing how important they are to American culture, especially American Jewish culture.
48	** ''Literature/{{Summerland}}'' - Reconstructs adolescent HighFantasy like ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' by giving it a fresh setting -- in this case, [[FantasyAmericana a fantasy-world based on American culture and folklore]].
49	** ''Literature/TheYiddishPolicemensUnion'' - Reconstructs traditional FilmNoir and HardboiledDetective stories, again, by giving it a fresh setting -- an AlternateHistory version of America where a thriving Yiddish culture exists on the Alaskan frontier.
50	* ShownTheirWork: He does lots of research for every novel he writes, whether it be [[Literature/TheAmazingAdventuresOfKavalierAndClay '30s New York]] or [[Literature/TheMysteriesOfPittsburgh Pittsburgh of the '80s]]. ''And it shows.''
51	* SoMyKidsCanWatch: Probably the main reason he wrote ''Awesome Man''.
52	* YiddishAsASecondLanguage: Yiddish creeps into many of his stories featuring Ashkenazi Jews. ''The Yiddish Policeman's Union'' was actually inspired by an essay lamenting that Yiddish has become a dead language, leading Chabon to wonder about a world where Yiddish was more common. "Yids" is even a FantasticSlur for Jewish residents of Alaska in the novel.

Context Creator / MichaelChabon