Byline: Lorne Jackson
SOMETHING curious took place in the recent past - many youngsters lost the knack of growing-up.
Getting to the age of 10 was fine. And 11, 12, 13, etc...
But everything got rather tricky when people - invariably men - stumbled into their 20s, traditionally the period when folks from previous generations knuckled down to marriage, family and forging ahead with a career.
This new generation had more pressing engagements: playing computer games; building-up DVD boxset collections; learning new skateboarding tricks.
Why grow up when you can be trapped in teen-hood forever, without a spoilsport mum and dad to tell you when to go to bed? The world of novel writing didn't go unaffected by these changes. Authors, after all, don't just comment on their generation, they are members, too.
In Britain, this army of greying, balding forever-youngsters produced Nick Hornby as their screeching Sergeant Major.
In America, Hornby has his rivals. A group of writers sprung up who were smart, witty and talented. But they avoided the brow-furrowing sincerity of a Tolstoy, Dickens or Graham Greene. Instead, they used their skills to jump on the pop-culture bandwagon.
One of the most celebrated members of this group is Michael Chabon. Chabon loves comic books, Lego, the Pixar movie Toy Story, blockbuster movies, sword and sorcery yarns...
Yet despite this passion for goofi-ness over gravitas, he has built a reputation as one of America's most important novelists.
Chabon is a past recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in the States.
Yet on the side, he has found time to dabble with a script for one of the Spider-Man movies.
Fake Christian Dior Watches Try to imagine James Joyce doing that.
Chabon's latest book is a collection of autobiographical essays, focusing on his struggle to become a fully functioning adult, as is evident from the title, Manhood For Amateurs.
The author takes on a variety of deep subjects, though usually from a starting point of frivolity.
pandora style beads For instance, in the first chapter The Loser's Club, he recalls that when he was a boy, he attempted to start a fan club for comic book collectors.
Chabon's mother hired him a room for the inaugural meeting. She also loaned him her typewriter, so he could punch out a newsletter for the Columbia Comic Book Club.
An advert was placed in the local paper. On the chosen day, he went to his hired room and set up a conference table, along with half a dozen chairs. Then little Michael sat down, and waited, and waited...
Nobody arrived.
It looked like it was going to be a complete wash-out, when a couple of heads popped round the door. A woman with her son. The boy at the door had clearly been expecting something a little more dynamic.
The lady, perhaps feeling sorry for Chabon, tried to push her son towards the desk. The kid pushed back, refusing to enter a room that reeked of failure. Nobody joined the Columbia Comic Book Club that day.
Which may seem an insignificant story in itself, but Chabon's aim is to make a profound point from what initially seems like piffle.
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