The Unnatural Trauma Narration: The Transformed Golems in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

• In Event: New Perspectives in Holocaust Studies

Abstract

In the epic story of Michael Chabon’s THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY, the image of Golem transformed for four times. It appeared in the story first as a religious statue in a closed room, then a giant circus clown in the coffin, later as a super hero in a popular American comic book series, and finally as the scattered river mud in an Express box. The Golem is both an important image and a deep motif in the novel. Its different images bear significant meanings. This paper will focus on the escapist and trauma themes by analyzing the Golem’s four images and comparing its fate with Kavalier’s. In fact, on the one hand, the Golem’s movements from Prague to New York coincided with Kavalier’s , a Jewish boy who escaped from the Holocaust to America, and on the other hand, Kavalier’s family trauma was narrated through the transformation of the Golem. Kavalier and the Golem are double characters. The Golem’s unnatural images served as a possible channel to make Kavalier’s trauma speakable. What’s more, the Golem’s final arrival at New York as scattered mud along with Kavalier’s settlement in New York and his end of diaspora communicate an Americanized solution of trauma and further implies an Americanized heritage of the Holocaust.

Author

• Weiwei Xing, Zhejiang Gongshang University