With the new Superman movie coming out this week, I wanted to recommend a book inspired by the story of the creators of Superman. One of my all-time favorite novels is the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. Chabon is one of my favorite authors, having also written the alternate-history hard-boiled detective novel The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, the contemporary novel Telegraph Avenue, the retired Sherlock Holmes novel The Final Solution, the collection of personal essays published in a volume called Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son, and many more. His novel Wonder Boys was the basis for the movie of the same name, which starred Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey, Jr., and several other recognizable names, featuring a song written for the movie by Bob Dylan (“Things Have Changed,” which won Dylan an Academy Award). As a Star Trek fan myself, I’m grateful for him not only co-creating the sequel series Star Trek: Picard but also being involved in the writing, story, and/or teleplay for almost all the the first season’s episodes (although Season 3 is still the best in the series–but that’s a different discussion).

But my acquaintance with the work of Chabon all started with The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Set immediately before, during, and after World War II, this novel follows two main protagonists. Sammy Clay is a Jewish Brooklyn native looking for a partner to create stories and art in the new format known as the comic book. Enter his cousin Joe Kavalier, a young Jewish artist also trained as an escape artist in the style of the famous Harry Houdini. Kavalier has just smuggled himself out of Nazi-invaded Prague to live with his cousin’s family in Brooklyn. Together, the team of cousins, Kavalier and Clay, create comics featuring their protagonist, the Escapist, and go on to become famous for their work. But through it all, they wrestle with speaking out against the fascism of Nazi Germany to an American audience not yet ready or willing to join World War II. While their comic book hero fights for saving others, in the real world Clay and especially Kavalier experience frustrations and helplessness as they hear of the horrors faced by their remaining family and community in Europe. 

Chabon himself is a Jew, and many of his writings reflect on Jewish identity in different times, places, and situations. This book in particular reflects on both American and European Jewish identities within an extended family (as well as others outside that family) during the Shoah or Holocaust. This makes the book insightful, but also with subject matter that can be emotionally heavy (to say the least). But considering the rise we are seeing in antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other related forms of hatred and bias towards religious and other identities, these stories are perhaps more important than ever to read. 

This novel also demonstrates another important concept: art–even pop culture–can be a form of resistance and a call to action. A year before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the USA entering World War II, the cover of the very first Captain America comic had Cap punching none other than Adolf Hitler himself. Music and art in all its forms can serve as a creative witness, catalyst, and calling–oftentimes by calling upon religious themes. Comic books and superheroes for example are not only inspired by figures such as Hercules from Greek mythology; Superman for example is also inspired by scriptural figures such as Moses, Samson, and Jesus (for more on this, check out Superman and the Bible: How the Idea of Superheroes Affects the Reading of Scripture by my former classmate Dr. Nicholaus Pumphrey). Last summer, Rabbi Sharff of Temple Israel even explored the Jewish roots of many superheroes in his course “Jews and Comic[Books].” If this concept of art as resistance and call to action inspires you, be sure to check out The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier & Clay–and keep an eye out for our upcoming announcement about next year’s Race, Religion and Social Justice Conference.