Michael Chabon Criticism
Michael Chabon stands as a prominent figure in contemporary American literature, his work spanning novels and short stories characterized by their intricate narratives, vivid characterizations, and a deft balance between irony and emotional depth. Chabon's upbringing in Washington, D.C., within a diverse community, and his later academic pursuits at the University of California, Irvine, where his MFA thesis evolved into his breakthrough novel, have significantly shaped his literary voice. His oeuvre, though occasionally critiqued for its complex plots and overwrought prose, has consistently earned critical acclaim for its sophisticated language and rich characterizations, as noted in Michael Gorra's review of Wonder Boys.
Chabon's short story collections, such as A Model World and Other Stories (1991) and Werewolves in Their Youth (1999), have received mixed reviews. David Montrose found the former unexceptional yet well-composed, while Elizabeth Tallent praised it for its vivacious prose. These stories blend irony with poignant examinations of love and disappointment, showcasing characters navigating emotional complexities with subtle irony and vivid characterizations, as highlighted in a review by Publishers Weekly. The latter collection delves into darker human emotions, revealing the latent depravity within ordinary lives and receiving positive evaluations from critics like James Hynes.
Chabon's narrative inventiveness and exploration of themes such as escape and the power of art were notably lauded in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, as underlined by reviews from Michael Dirda and David Horspool. This work reinforced Chabon's reputation for transcending the solipsism of postmodern fiction by prioritizing plot and character development. Critics often praise his fresh style and unexpected plot twists, as noted in Dan Cryer's review of his short stories, while affirming his status as a leading figure in American fiction. His works are celebrated for their engaging narratives and their balance of nostalgia and optimism, offering a refreshing departure from contemporary postmodern trends.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Chabon, Michael (Contemporary Literary Criticism)
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Another Last Summer
(summary)
In the following review of A Model World, Montrose finds Chabon's short fiction well composed but unexceptional.
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The Pleasure of His Company
(summary)
In the following review, Tallent offers a positive assessment of A Model World, noting that Michael Chabon writes a prose so engaging—so rapid, graceful, allusive, and resourceful—that its reader can't help feeling flattered, singled out for brilliant attention, as when a witty friend brings every last ounce of vivacity to a conversation.
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A Model World and Other Stories
(summary)
In the following review, Herold offers a favorable assessment of A Model World and Other Stories, noting the cosmic breathlessness of Chabon's style and the broader range of his new work compared to his first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.
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The Paper Chase
(summary)
In the following review, Yardley praises Wonder Boys and affirms Chabon's literary accolades.
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A Bag of Pot, a Purloined Jacket, and Thou
(summary)
In the following review, Eder offers a positive assessment of Wonder Boys.
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Novel Complications: Michael Chabon's ‘Wildly Funny’ Tale of a Problem-Plagued Writer's Final Fling
(summary)
In the following review, Hearon offers a positive assessment of Wonder Boys.
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Michael Chabon: Wonder Boy in Transition
(summary)
In the following interview, Michael Chabon and Lisa See explore Chabon's literary journey, examining his early success with The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, the struggles to write a second novel, and how he eventually found a new direction with Wonder Boys, reflecting themes of disillusionment and maturity.
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A Novelist's Nightmare
(summary)
In the following review, Tandon offers a generally favorable assessment of Wonder Boys.
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A Life of Wonder
(summary)
In the following essay, Himmelsbach discusses Chabon's literary success, the author's struggle to write a second novel, and Wonder Boys.
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Panic in Pittsburgh
(summary)
In the following review, Kaveney offers a positive assessment of Wonder Boys, noting that in Michael Chabon's excellent second novel, a novelist's rapid tumble towards disaster reflects the rule of Aristotelian tragedy: that chickens have to come home to roost.
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Youth and Consequences
(summary)
In the following review of Wonder Boys, Gorra finds flaws in the novel's disparate plotlines and the protagonist's disingenuous observations.
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Wonder Boys
(summary)
In the following review of Wonder Boys, Bick finds the novel's conclusion overly romanticized, but commends Chabon's emotionally complex protagonist.
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Fiction in Review
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Birkerts offers a positive assessment of Wonder Boys.
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Bourgeois Blues
(summary)
In the following review, Hynes offers a positive assessment of Werewolves in Their Youth.
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Exploring Our Inner Conflicts
(summary)
In the following review, Seaman offers a positive assessment of Werewolves in Their Youth.
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
(summary)
In the following review, Dirda offers a positive assessment of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.
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Sam and Joe Take on the Nazis
(summary)
In the following review, Horspool offers a positive assessment of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.
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Hope Against Hope
(summary)
In the following review of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Levi commends Chabon's prose and narrative skill, but concludes that the novel lacks passion.
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The Novelist as Wonder Boy
(summary)
In the following interview, Ybarra explores Michael Chabon's literary journey, focusing on his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, his fascination with comic books and 1940s American culture, and the influences and challenges shaping his writing career, including his disciplined writing routine and inspirations from comic book history.
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Chabon's Excellent Adventures
(summary)
In the following essay, Bahr discusses Chabon's incorporation of homosexual characters in his fiction and the author's misidentification as a homosexual writer upon the publication of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
(summary)
In the following review, Deignan provides an overview of Chabon's literary career up to the publication of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.
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Playing with Kiddie Dynamite
(summary)
In the following essay, Deignan examines the narrative structure, authorial voice, and thematic significance of comic books in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.
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Another Last Summer
(summary)
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Chabon, Michael (Short Story Criticism)
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A Model World
(summary)
In the following review, the critic applauds the stories of A Model World for their subtle irony, vivid characters, and effective understatement. An exceptional collection of short stories follows Chabon's well received debut novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. These subtly ironic tales have a brevity and clarity that allows Chabon's bittersweet observations to hit home. Understatement is Chabon's talent; using words economically, he deftly creates believable situations made remarkable by underlying twists of motivation and behavior. His vivid characters share the need to feel accepted and loved by others. In 'S Angel' Ira, a drama student at UCLA, attends his favorite cousin Sheila's wedding and falls for a party guest named Carmen—an abrasive, unstable woman who is unresponsive to his flirtations. It's as much a surprise to the reader as to Ira when he realizes his true affections for Sheila. The unpredictability of love surfaces again in the dryly witty 'Ocean Avenue,' in which Bobby Lazar, an architect in Laguna Beach, runs into his ex-lover, Suzette, a painfully thin exercise fanatic, and finds he can't suppress his indefinable feelings for her, despite the chaos they bring to each other's lives. Chabon's characters manage to find joy amidst disappointment, and thus a sense of purpose.
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A Model World
(summary)
In the following review of A Model World, Henderson asserts that Chabon is one of the best young American fiction writers today. This collection of 11 stories by the author of the well-received Mysteries of Pittsburgh should help cement Chabon's status as one of the best of America's young fiction writers. Each of the stories concerns an individual's adaptation to a changed relationship, be it with wife (or ex-wife), friend, lover, or parent. Particularly evocative are the five final stories which fall under the rubric “The Lost World.” They deal with a boy's response to his parents' divorce and their subsequent attempts to establish new partnerships. Chabon writes with intelligence, humor, and an obvious love of language. If he keeps developing, he will become a major force in American fiction. Essential for all public and academic libraries.
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Confessions of a Young Man
(summary)
In the following review of A Model World, Frank maintains that Chabon's prose is “technically terrific,” but that his stories are narrow in scope and not very interesting.
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Bittersweet and Savory Stories of Love and Loss
(summary)
In the following review, Cryer calls Chabon a gifted young writer, and applauds his fresh style, lyrical use of language, unexpected plot twists, and sense of humor in A Model World.
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Clever Portraits of the Twenty-Somethings
(summary)
In the following mixed review of A Model World, Gilbert contrasts the stories in the first half of the book to those stories in the “The Lost World” section.
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Another Last Summer
(summary)
In the following review, Montrose asserts that although the stories in A Model World are flawed, the volume should be regarded as an early work by a promising young author.
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Author Creates Vanished World of Nostalgia, Colorful Things
(summary)
In the following favorable review, Gowen considers the role of nostalgia in A Model World.
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Growing Pains
(summary)
In the following review, Younson contends that the stories in A Model World are insightful, charming, sensitive, and thoughtful.
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The Pleasure of His Company
(summary)
In the following review of A Model World, Tallent regards Chabon's stories as inventive, insightful, and engaging.
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Review of A Model World
(summary)
In the following review of A Model World, Callahan praises Chabon for his delightful characters, light irony, and well-crafted prose. Originally published in The New Yorker and other magazines, these short stories are delightful in their portrayal of characters, the light irony of the situations, and the flow of the sentences. Chabon deftly paints humorously odd people floundering for fulfillment. Chabon's stories will captivate creative writing students, students of literature, and casual readers alike.
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Heart Troubles
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Johnson finds A Model World to be “at once an immensely promising and curiously disappointing book.”
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The Short Fiction of Michael Chabon: Nostalgia in the Very Young
(summary)
In the following essay, Fowler discusses the themes of memory, nostalgia, and family in Chabon's short stories.
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Review of Werewolves in Their Youth
(summary)
In the following review of Werewolves in Their Youth, the critic derides the volume for its unoriginal and uninteresting stories.
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Review of Werewolves in Their Youth
(summary)
In the following review of Werewolves in Their Youth, the reviewer praises Chabon's verbal wit, dark ironies, and sympathetic, three-dimensional characters. Applying his ironic talents to even darker material than in previous outings, Chabon has produced a winning collection of nine stories. Failed marriages haunt almost all the protagonists; personal disasters, depressive malaise and sexual violence are recurring themes.
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Review of Werewolves in Their Youth
(summary)
In the following review of Werewolves in Their Youth, Seaman commends the volume for its remarkable prose, inventive stories, and richly textured narratives. Chabon displays his nimble irony, sense of narrative adventure, and remarkable facility with language, exploring the puzzlements of fatherhood across nine stories.
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Review of Werewolves in Their Youth
(summary)
In the following review, Burkhardt lauds Werewolves in Their Youth for its remarkably crafted stories and skillful rendering of intricate emotional responses. This collection of short stories from novelist Chabon reveals the intricacies of emotion in the lives of everyday people. Chabon's central figures are beset by divorce: the pressures that cause it, the traumas that accompany it, and the aftershock and readjustment that follow. Whether children or adults, they struggle to manage in situations that are not always so manageable. From the fat boy trying to reunite his estranged parents to the husband helping his wife give birth to the child of a rapist, these remarkably crafted stories explore life at the lunar extreme that brings out the werewolf in the human condition. Yet Chabon magically instills a ray of hope, even in his most desperate characters.
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Werewolves: Life Stories with Bite
(summary)
In the following review, Solomon asserts that the stories in Werewolves in Their Youth are funny and well-crafted.
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Review of Werewolves in Their Youth
(summary)
In the following review of Werewolves in Their Youth, Lange faults the volume for its weak characters, ineffective plots, and generally lifeless stories.
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Review of Werewolves in Their Youth
(summary)
In the following review, Fisher maintains that the stories in Werewolves in Their Youth “are often delightful, always disturbing, and oddly memorable.” The people in these stories are in trouble, either stuck or becoming unglued. They are trapped in bad marriages, neglectful families, or their own willfulness, stubbornness, and silence. They are thieves, liars, alcoholics, deceivers.
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No Potions in the Lab
(summary)
In the following review of Werewolves in Their Youth, Greif praises Chabon's stylistic craftsmanship but criticizes the volume as disappointing in its thematic content.
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Gothic Irony
(summary)
In the following review of Werewolves in Their Youth, Carroll offers high praise for Chabon's skillful craftsmanship, elegant prose, complex descriptions, and effective use of figurative language.
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A Model World
(summary)
- Further Reading