Maps and Legends
Maps and Legends is a collection of sixteen essays by American author Michael Chabon, his first book-length foray into nonfiction. Several of these essays are defenses of the author's work in genre literature (such as science fiction, fantasy, and comics), while others are more autobiographical, explaining how the author came to write several of his most popular works. Reception. Prior to its release, the book received harsh criticism from "Publishers Weekly", which declared Chabon to be "bitter and defensive about his love for genre fiction such as mysteries and comic books", adding, "It's hard  to imagine the audience for this book." Many subsequent newspaper and magazine reviewers have been positive. In "The New York Times", Mark Kamine wrote that "[E]ntertainment, as Chabon argues in this collection’s opening essay, is what literary art all boils down to. As in all his books, there’s plenty of it to be had in "Maps and Legends"." "San Francisco Gate" called the collection "fascinating", "" said that "Vital energy and a boundless appetite for risk give these essays their electric charge", and "Harper's Magazine" noted that "What is so startling is how much more interesting most of  these indulgences are to read about in Chabon's pages than they were on their own, in the pulpy original; as if the nostalgic novelist, like the magician-for-hire in his "Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay", can make paper roses consumed by fire bloom from a pile of ash."