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.