Taking life philosophically.
3 January 2010
The American Resource Center (Amerikka-kirjasto) is a little-known gem among the libraries of the University of Helsinki. On the shelves there are countless nice editions of fine American novels, for example. I picked up a virtually unread copy of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2000).
It is not just that nobody uses this library. I think Michael Chabon is little read in Finland. (It seems Summerland (2002) (Kesämaa, 2003) is the only book by Chabon translated into Finnish.) His books are not particularly short, and reading in a foreign language is always a bit heavy, even if you are used to doing it. Chabon’s subjects are strange too: who wants to pick up a novel about the life of two comic book artists in mid-20th century New York, or an alternate history detective novel set in a Jewish settlement in Alaska? Yet, even though Chabon’s work presents the reader with several hurdles, in the end his writing is clear and his themes universal.
Chabon’s books are voyages, or self-contained worlds. To create such worlds, he uses with equal skill references to history and to historical culture. In this novel in particular it is amazing how well everything plays together, how history (World War II), culture (comic books, illusionism) and the characters of the novel mirror and complement each other.
In my opinion in Kavalier and Clay and in his other books there are stylistic imperfections. Sometimes I have a feeling that the voyage Chabon is taking me to is too long, and I am taken to see things that are not really all that significant, and they are explained to me in a convoluted way. Sometimes it is a deliberate effect, but sometimes not. Yet, in the end it only adds to the illusion that I am really in the same world as these characters.
The journal of Timo Laine (contact information). Cultural commentary from the perspective of a philosophy student in Helsinki.