Episode description
Michael Chabon talks about The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay with James Naughtie and a group of readers.
The novel follows the story of the teenage Josef Kavalier, who makes a daring escape from the Germans in Prague in 1939, leaving his family behind. He travels across Europe and eventually arrives at his cousin Samuel Clayman's house in Brooklyn. There the pair discover a shared love of the burgeoning comic book world of Superheroes - Joe Kavalier is the artist, and Sam Clay, as he becomes, is the writer.
Together they create a hero of their own, The Escapist, a Houdini-type figure who fights the Nazis, frees the enslaved and leads them home. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2001.
Presenter : James Naughtie Interviewed guest : Michael Chabon Producer : Dymphna Flynn
June's Bookclub choice : Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru (2011).