Volume III Issue I January-March 2023

Name of Author : L Reshma, Prof. E Mahalakshmi

Title of the paper : The European Conference on Literature and Librarianship 2015 Official Conference Proceedings

Abstract: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier Clay is set in the past, but it is not a historical novel as it sets out to unmask historical novels as totalising narratives. Drawing on Linda Hutcheons terminology, Chabons magnum opus can be described as an example of historiographic metafiction. Moreover, Kavalier Clays rejection of the traditional historiographic perspective means another perspective has to be embraced. And it is precisely this otherness Foucault, this contrastive position in relation to the dominant point of view, that defines this new perspective. Kavalier Clay does not only question the boundaries of literature, but also of our universe and our view or description of that universe. The different ontologies – as defined by Brian McHale – that run through Kavalier Clay cannot easily be distinguished from each other and create ontological ambiguities that cause the novel to resist interpretation. Especially the combination of mythification and demythification causes ontological doubt as the world as we know it is negated.

Keywords : Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Postmodernism, Historical Novel

DOI :

Page No. : 119-120