Seven books that live halfway between history and myth

Phong Nguyen is a writer of historical fiction (Bronze Drum), experimental fiction (Roundabout: an Improvisational Fiction), spinoffs (The Adventures of Joe Harper), alternate history (Pages from the Textbook of Alternate History), dirty realism (Memory Sickness), and more.

At Lit Hub he tagged seven titles that live halfway between history and myth, including:

Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Reimagining the origins of the comic book superhero, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay draws upon the story of the golem to show how the American mythology of superheroes draws powerfully from Jewish tradition and culture, in which the story of the comic book creators is marbled with the story of the myths themselves. Alternately hyper-real and surreal and unreal, this contemporary classic of a novel does not heed genre boundaries.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is among Francis Spufford's ten top New York novels, Jenny Shank's top six works of literary fiction that take their mythical creatures seriously, Joel Cunningham's top twelve books with the most irresistible titles, and Sam Anderson's list of five books we'll still be talking about in 2020.

--Marshal Zeringue