The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - by Michael Chabon: A novel ranked #16 on the NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.
Summary, Insight, Wisdom, and Quotes by Alfred Sankara
Hook
Hitler and his Nazi regime mercilessly persecute the Jews in Europe. Joe Kavalier, a young Jew, escapes their persecution to the United States and unites with his cousin Sammy Clay. Although they lack the experience to protect the intellectual property of their art work, they join their artistic talent and genius to invent the Amazing Adventures of the Escapist comic series to take the fight against Nazism and evil to a different stage. While contributing to the blossoming of the comic book industry, they land punches on Hitler’s jaw through their Escapist character.
Book Summary
In 1939 most of Europe was under the siege of the German Nazi regime and the Jewish community had been suffering from their persecution. The Kavaliers, a persecuted Jewish family from the German occupied Prague in the Czech Republic sold all their possessions to pay for the required paperwork fees so that their older son Joseph Kavalier can exile into the United States. However, at the border crossing, the Nazis did not allow Joe to leave the country pretexting that he was missing some stamp on his exit visa. A sullen Joe rode the train back to his hometown, but he was not resigned. Instead of going home, he went to his former escapism teacher’s house, Bernard Kornblum, a magician, performing illusionist and specialist of tricks with straightjackets and handcuffs, a disciple of the famous escapist Harry Houdini.
At the same time, the Prague Jewish community assigned Kornblum the mission to ship to a safe haven their Golem, a Jewish folklore humanoid made by clay and brought to life through mystical means. Kornblum managed to smuggle Joe hidden in a coffin under the Golem to nearby Vilna, Lithuania. During the train ride to Vilna, Joe laid silent for more than a dozen of hours with only a bottle to pee in and a tube for pumping water connected to his mouth so he can remain hydrated. Once in Vilna, thanks to a right of transit granted by the Japanese officials to persecuted Jews, Joe sailed to San Fransico via Kobe, Japan. He finally took the bus to NYC, where he united with his cousin Sammy Clay.
At age nineteen and twenty, the pair of young tyro artists initiated the Kavalier & Clay partnership in the comic book industry, which was characterized at that time by what Michael Chabon coined a congenial atmosphere of rascality. Novices were easily taken advantage of. Joe and Sam partnered to design the Amazing Adventures of the Escapist series, which they hurriedly signed a contract to sell off the rights for “about a hundred bucks” to Sheldon Anapol the publisher of the Empire Comics. Joe was in charge of drawing the Escapist characters, while Sammy focused on developing the scripting and writing. Joe leveraged the Escapist series to publish satires to fight against the Nazi regime which was persecuting his kindred stranded in Europe. To the disagreement of his publisher, he frequently illustrated the Escapist punching Hitler in the face. Joe and Sam contributed tremendously to develop the comic book industry, which was subject to fierce competition, copyright infringement lawsuits, and publication rights wars.
The Escapist competed against other famous comic characters such as Tarzan, The Phantom, The Angel, the Arrow, the Comet and the Fin, all the Captains (Flag, Freedom, Midnight, Venture), Major Victory, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, to name a few. As the comic book industry boomed, Joe and Sammy made good money, but this was far below the millions of dollars that Sheldon Anapol the publisher and his associates were amassing to their detriment.
Amid their emerging comic artist career, Joe met Rosa Saks another artist painter from the New York immigrant community and they immediately fell in love. Joe had always dreamed of getting his family out of Prague so they can reunite in America, the country of freedom and swing dance. After several unsuccessful attempts through the German consulate to bring his brother Thomas Kavalier to the United States, Rosa connected Joe with an organization which was raising funds for chartering ships to evacuate persecuted children from Europe to America.
Sadly, a few days before Thomas’s arrival in America, while Joe and Rosa were in the middle of the preparation to welcome him, a tragedy struck them. The Ark of Myriam, the ship transporting them was torpedoed by the Germans and sank into the Atlantic Ocean, killing Thomas and a hundred of other innocent children.
The death of Thomas left Joe Kavalier grief stricken and consumed by rage and rancor against the Germans. This woebegone event of life, led Joe to escape (abandoning his work and a pregnant girlfriend Rosa) to enlist in the U.S. Navy as a radioman and fight against the Nazis to avenge his brother. His duties in the Navy brought him to various naval bases including the Guantanamo Naval base in Cuba. While performing his radioman duties, he uncovered a secret German station in Jotunheim in the Antarctica. The station was run by Klaus Mecklenburg a German geology scientist, who Joe managed to slain in a perilous mission that nearly killed him.
During Joe’s escape to the Navy, Rosa explored abortion, but Sammy Clay dissuaded her and made the sacrifice by ending his incipient homosexual relationship with his boyfriend Francis Bacon, and married Rosa Saks, who gave birth to his cousin Joe’s son. They named him Thomas and called him Tommy in remembrance of Joe’s brother. Sammy and Rosa despite their incompatible sexual orientation rose above their humble persons to live as husband and wife to offer a safe haven for Tommy, who grew up happy but quite mischievous. Sammy continued a struggling career in the comic book industry. Rosa pursued her artist work, while collaborating with Sammy on some art activities.
At the end of his duties in the Navy, Joe continued to live in the shadow drawing comic series and he would not reemerge from his escape until more than a decade later. After Joe’s re-appearance, and despite having abandoned his relatives, he was welcomed, open arms, by his cousin Sammy and wife Rosa as well as their son Tommy, who developed a keen interest in escapism.
At the same time, there were some growing beliefs in the U.S. public opinion that the Escapist and other comic series by offering young readers a means to escape was pernicious to their young mind and was leading them to perversion. Sammy Clay was subpoenaed to appear before the U.S. senate to testify about that hokum. During the testimony, a senator humiliated Sam by exposing his homosexuality on live TV and went on to amalgamate comic books with homosexuality, pornography, and pedophilia. Humiliated, it was now Sammy’s turn to escape to California abandoning his house to Joe who reunited with his love Rosa and their son Tommy. Sammy engaged into fleeting homosexual relationships here and there, while on either side the Kavalier and Clay continued to answer their calling for comic books until their old days.
Reflection & Insights
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon is centered on two key themes: escapism and comic books.
First, the most prominent Escapist of human history is incontestably Harry Houdini, a magician, performing illusionist and specialist of tricks with straightjackets and manacles. Beyond straightjackets and handcuffs, escapism gives humans a means to escape from life’s adversity and challenges. The Nazis did not allow Joe Kavalier to leave Prague, but thanks to escapism, he escaped Jewish persecution hiding in a coffin under a Jewish Golem. When the passing of Thomas aggrieved Joe, he escaped to the Navy to fight the Germans. The Escapist offered Joe a fighting ring to punch Hitler in the face. Finally, when the senator humiliated Sammy Clay by exposing his secret homosexuality and accusing him to corrupt the youth (similar charges brought against Socrates 2400 years ago), he escaped by leaving his family behind to go lurk in the shadows of California.
Second, the book presents the genesis and thorough development of the comic art, which morphed into a booming industry. The comic industry grew tremendously and gave birth to a wealth of famous comic series, including all the Captain series, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman. No doubt the early dedication and toil of these artists allowed the coming of age of the comic books industry and laid the groundwork for today’s animated movies that we take for granted. When the talented young artists Kavalier and Clay invented the Amazing Adventures of the Escapist series, they were obviously callows who rushed to sell off their rights to Sheldon Anapol the publisher of the Empire Comics for few hundred dollars and as Sammy Clay later reflected on their lawsuits to win back their rights “We were dummies – Every jury I’ve ever met seems to agree on that.’’
Today in many industries, artists, engineers, and entrepreneurs continue to fall victim to the trap of rushing to give up the right of their creativity to corporates which always have the best lawyers to protect their interests. In the tech industry for example, the war to win the AI race is currently raging and company pooh-bahs don’t hesitate to poach each other’s talent at any cost. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay teaches artists, entrepreneurs, and creators the lessons to pay close attention when signing or negotiating contracts to avoid getting ripped off like Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay.
The book also paints some humanity on the face of homosexuality, helping readers better grasp the meaning of sexual orientation. While the U.S. senator tried to humiliate Sammy assimilating homosexuality to pornography and pedophilia, there was a Sammy Clay who having always preferred men to women, made the huge sacrifice to break up with his boyfriend and remain in NYC to marry a woman, abandoned by his cousin Joe, and be a loving father to Tommy, his cousin’s son. So, Chabon helps understand that homosexuality does not necessarily equate to pornography or pedophilia.
Finally getting back to escapism, when fate gets hard on me, be it a failure, disappointment or even grief, I always tend to escape to slumber by falling asleep. When I was in college my dream job was to become a pilot one day. Having grown up in Burkina Faso, the chances to get into a school of aviation were very slim. Then one day, I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take the exam to become a plane mechanic, hoping that maintaining planes could be a stepping stone to get me into the cockpit. I passed written test, but I did not get selected after the practical skills assessment. I was so disappointed and I went to bed to fall in deep sleep hoping to forget my failure when I wake up.
In addition, few years ago when I learned the news that my mother had unexpectedly passed, I was so grief stricken that I wanted to fall in slumber hoping that when I wake up, I’ll find that no such thing happened and that I simply had a nightmare. Sadly, when I woke up, I had to face reality. She had escaped life forever.
How do you escape from the reality of life’s trials and tribulations?
Character Growth Takeaways
Wisdom: [Scattered wisdom from the book to ponder over]
Forget about what you are escaping from. Never worry what you are escaping from. Reserve your anxiety for what you are escaping to: Focus your attention and energy to tackle current challenges, live hic et nunc (here and now), focus on the present, do not get distracted by what lies ahead
Genius does not always lead to success and great financial reward: Kavalier and Clay were talented young artists who invented the Amazing Adventures of the Escapist series. Anapol Sheldon and associates reaped most of the benefits.
You could always count on finding your way in and out of a labyrinth from the moment you entered it if you kept one hand in continuous contact with one wall. Good tip if you ever go spelunking; how can this tip be applied to life’s twists and turns?
People notice only what you tell them to notice, and then only if you remind them
People tend to have a selective attention focusing mostly on what is repeated, reminders, breaking news, or written in bold and plain sight
True genius is never recognized in his own time
Only love could pick a nested pair of steel Bramah locks – A nested pair of steel Bramah locks are locks designed by Joseph Bramah in the 18th century and difficult to pick. Only love and not brute force or logic can allow one to pick them and break through such defense. Could that be applied to life’s circumstances as well?
Every golden age is as much a matter of disregard as of felicity
Temperance: [Lesson about restraint, balance, humility]
The following fact illustrates some level of temperance and self-control
Sammy repressed his homosexual orientation to enter into a heterosexual relationship so that his nephew Tommy and Tommy’s mother Rosa can have a safe haven to live
This sacrifice made by Sammy teaches us a lesson of temperance and selfless love
Courage: [Lesson about strength, risk, or standing up]
Joe hiding in a coffin to escape German persecution is an unstinting and absolute feat of courage, determination, and perseverance to never give up to evil
He went on to find meaning in life through comics (to paraphrase Viktor Frankl on Man’s Search for Meaning)
Justice: [Lesson about fairness, integrity, or responsibility]
An act of justice from the book:
Comic book artists were freedom fighters. Through the comic book characters they invented, they offered a platform and a springboard to fight for justice and liberation for the downtrodden.
The Escapist served justice in lending many punches on Hitler and his evil Nazi regime
Memorable Quotes & Phrases
Memorable Quotes from the Book:
To all those who toil in the bonds of slavery and the shackles of oppression, I (the Escapist, Avenger, Superman, Wonder Woman, Avenger) offer the hope of liberation and the promise of freedom!
They had dreams but given their last names and lack of experience, it was a challenge to make it through a lofty industry (comics industry)
They (Jews) are dust in their (Nazis) boots to be whisked off with indiscriminate broom
Belly dancers. Turkish delight. All alone without mother and father. – Have you ever experienced this?
Interregnum between the gullible wondering of childhood and the know-it-all watchfulness of adolescence
Phrases/Expressions to Remember – Powerful language or metaphors.
Country boy right off the bus
Unstinting praise and unassuageable hunger
The world greatest charlatans, conjurors, and fakirs
Save the best for last
The whole damn stinking world
How fucked up and broken the world is
The tenebrous benthos of human unconscious
Their oeuvres, sex live, and family connections – (Jewish artist community of NYC)
The city of freedom and swing (America)
Overweening human ambition
Weaving a skein of reversals and legal maneuverings too complicated and tedious to tease out in these pages.
Buried under the heavy brambles of indebtedness and chocked in the ivy of frustration and blame
Vocabulary Builder
Words, phrases, and expressions from the book to season and spice up your language
Jumped for lunch: I was attacked (verbally or otherwise) over something minor or harmless — like just trying to get lunch.
Dock someone’s pay: Reduce an employee wage as a penalty and some sort of deduction
Bolt food: eating very quickly, without chewing properly or taking time to savor the food. It’s often used to describe eating in a hurried or even reckless manner.
Go belly-up: bankrupt, to fail completely, typically referring to a business becoming bankrupt “go belly up” likely originates from the image of a dead fish floating with its belly exposed on the surface of the water.
Raining in fits: raining intermittently or sporadically
Give a fish eye: unfriendly look
Man about town: a fashionable male
Vocabulary from Yiddish
Mezuzah: “doorpost” and refers to a small parchment scroll upon which the Hebrew words are written
Kibitzer: person who offers unwanted advice or commentary, often in an annoying way
Narrischkeit: foolishness or nonsense
Luftmensch: “air person”, that describes an impractical, unrealistic person whose head is in the clouds
Vocabulary – More words
Callow = Tyro = novice, inexperienced or new to something.
Hokum: nonsense
Wastrel: Wasteful or good for nothing person
Stumblebum: Clumsy or inept person
Aleck: Stupid person
Goofus: foolish, stupid person
Aetataureate : Something in its prime or golden age – “aetas” (age) and “aureatus” (golden) – Coined by Chabon Michael
Pooh-bah: a person who is considered important or powerful, often with an air of self-importance or pomposity
Cloak-and-dagger: involves mystery, intrigue, or espionage
Who Should Read This?
Artists, designers, aspiring entrepreneurs in media and entertainment
Researchers, historians on comic books, Jewish persecution, resilience and creativity
Adventure book lovers