I think it's possible that non-Jewish readers won't be as taken with this book as I was, but I think it's really an extraordinary work. It also seemed both more and less "political" than I'd been anticipating; there are lots of significant similarities and differences between Sitka and Israel, between our world and Chabon's, but everything's so richly and totally done that it doesn't leave you with an obvious take away "point" as such.
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The Yiddish Policeman's Union
29 May 2007 09:33 am
Comments (14)
I thought it was going to have something to do with the topic of this old post, but upon reading the Amazon reviews, maybe not.
Didn't Stalin actually set up an Arctic Jewish homeland sorta like this?
I'm not Jewish, and I absolutely loved the book. Amazing concept and amazing execution.
An obvious point of reference is Roth's "The Plot Against America," but I liked Chabon's book much better.
Actually, I think that the book made one of the strongest defenses of Israel and zionism that I've read in fiction. As a person who is not Jewish and doesn't remember a world without a jewish homeland, its easy to underestimate the central role that the existence of Israel had in shaping Jewish identity. At first, I thought the book seemed vaguely anti-semitic, because of the constant references to 'yid', and the seemingly stereotypical portrayals of Jewish characters. Even though I'm still a little undecided about that, I think Chabon's portrayal of a people who had no homeland, no sense of safety, was compelling. Not to mention the fact that he pulled off a detective mystery/speculative fiction/magical realism novel with some interesting political perspectives, while still ensuring a fun read.
You definitely don't have to be Jewish to love Chabon (but it may give you a deeper understanding of his work). I've always loved how he turns characters who in the European canon had been mocked as weak (especially Jews and gays/bisexuals) and turns them into strong characters in a realistic sense. I also find it interesting how his model of masculine strength is both more realistic than most authors' yet also rooted partly in comic book models, especially the geeky strength of Spider-Man and others, which really came out in Kavalier and Clay.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union (more than one of them, Yglesias) is a solid book, but the bar has really been lowered for this sort of work -- with I.B. Singer safely dead, and the unctuous Jonathan Safran Foer having already lowered everyone's expectations. Kavalier & Clay at least had the great excursion to Antarctica.
For those seeking a some summer Jewish reading, I'd recommend a couple of non-fiction books: A Tale of Love and Darkness, by Amos Oz.
My other summer Hebrew reading recommendation:
The Orientalist, by Tom Reiss. This one features the boom town of turn-of-the-(Twentieth)century Baku, at the intersection of Islam & Europe, a young Stalin, Nazis, Fascists, etc. Interesting stuff.
JP,
You are correct. In the late Twenties, Stalin created the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (oblast is the Russian term for province) on the Amur River near Vladivostok. Its capital is Birobidzhan. Less than 2% of the population is Jewish. Info can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Autonomous_Oblast
"...[Chabon] turns characters who in the European canon had been mocked as weak (especially Jews and gays/bisexuals) and turns them into strong characters in a realistic sense..."
In a really obvious, belabored, "I want a gold star for being contrarian" way. The Antarctica chapters have got to be about the most boring section in any novel, ever.
I just have to say I considered "Kavalier and Clay" the world champion for All-Time Most Overrated Work Of Art, until "Pan's Labyrinth" displaced it last winter in twelve hard-fought rounds of undeserved critical gushing. I suppose that makes me pro-Franco as well as anti-Semitic.
The Roth book went out of its way to not be topical/political which left it as simply a rather watered down Before We Were Assimilated novel.
The big dishonesty in "Kavalier and Clay" was the complete lack of a mention of the Nazi-Soviet alliance that existed during the large parts of the book set in 1939-1941. One main character, for example, escapes from the Nazis through the Soviet Union, but no mention is made of any details of that remarkable trip. Then, much of the story takes place on the edge of Jewish Communist Party circles in NYC in 1940-41 at a time when Communist Jews were required to denounce Britain for resisting Hitler! But, once again, that fascinating situation goes unmentioned.
Steve Sailer:
I'm surprised no American Jewish writer has mined the vein of WWII-era Jewish Communists for material for a novel. There are plenty of Jews who like to flagellate themselves.
ykjw drihtoj qtyeglkvp ftqghu gckia cthym hroimv
Comments closed June 12, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
This book does sound like something with which I'd be taken too -- but I'm a fellow Hebrew, so whaddya expect.
But speaking of fellow tribesmen, this seems to be a problem for some:
it doesn't leave you with an obvious take away "point" as such
The Communists among us seem to be concerned that this book doesn't fully follow the dictates of socialist realism and doesn't adaquately defend the Dictatorship of the Proletariate and thus is a work of decadent bourgeois escapism (e.g. it lacks a point) and is therefore ultimately counter-revolutionary and must be suppressed ...
... er, the neo-conservatives among us seem to be concerned that this book doesn't adaquately defend Zionism and is thus an anti-Semitic plot written by someone who must be a self-hating Jew.
Posted by DAS | May 29, 2007 9:54 AM