The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize winning novel about the Golden Age of Comics. The novel follows the lives of two Jewish boys, Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay. The pattern of their lives in some ways mirrors that of Superman creators Siegel and Shuster. They experience many of the same difficulties when they naively bargain away the rights to their creation, The Escapist. The novel also explores discrimination against Jewish immigrants, as well as the tragedy of the Holocaust.Chabon shows that there were two reasons why Jewish writers and artists were so prominent in comic books and pop culture of the time. First, due to discrimination, this was sometimes the only work available. Secondly, comics and other pulp works were an important escape and creative outlet that allowed downtrodden immigrants the chance to dream and create their own heroic mythology.
Kavalier and Clay was a tremendous breakthrough that greatly contributed to the acceptance of comics as a uniquely American art form worthy of study and critical appreciation.
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