When future archaeologists sift through the artifacts of pop culture for meaning — whether they’re comic books, detective novels or sci-fi thrillers — they’d do well to start with the works of
Michael Chabon. In his novels The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Chabon constructed alternate histories of the 20th century using pulp forms as a kind of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. His acclaimed new novel Telegraph Avenue takes a less fanciful but no less richly imagined tack, using the music and movies of the 1970s to evoke an interracial friendship at the intersection of Oakland and Berkeley.
Chabon (who also contributed to the script for this year’s underrated Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptation John Carter) will read from and sign his book 6:15 p.m. tonight at the downtown Nashville Public Library, 615 Church St. It’s a Salon@615 event, sponsored by Humanities Tennessee with book sales by Parnassus Books.
