| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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TheAmazingAdventuresOfKavalierAndClay |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
comment |
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 2000 novel by Michael Chabon about The Golden Age of Comic Books, focusing on two Jewish cousins, American writer Sam Clay (born Klayman) and Czech artist Josef Kavalier, who together create a popular superhero comic called the Escapist, inspired in equal measure by Harry Houdini and Superman.Many events in the novel are based on the lives of actual comic-book creators, and the book as a whole is generally an homage to the comics of the Golden Age. It had a pseudo-sequel in Brian K. Vaughan's The Escapists, as well as two ultra-short stories that recount events cut from the novel, and a faux-interview with Rosa Saks in 1988. It also spun off into a short lived Anthology Comic, The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist, in which numerous creators including Chabon himself recounted The Escapist's exploits in as many styles.Not to be confused with that Escapist. |
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2024-04-15T09:00:50Z |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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Dropped link to HistoricalDomainCharacter: Not a Feature - IGNORE |
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DBTropes |
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type |
Non-Residential Residence |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_116eeb4a |
comment |
Non-Residential Residence: Sam and Joe's boss sleeps in his office in order to avoid going home to his wife and kids. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_116eeb4a |
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type |
Heroes Love Dogs |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_170cf4b6 |
comment |
Heroes Love Dogs: Justified, because they are sled dogs after all. |
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type |
The Beard |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_1b596e24 |
comment |
The Beard: Rosa to Sam in the classic sense of covering up the fact that he's gay, and Sam to Rosa to cover up having Joe's baby out of wedlock. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_1b596e24 |
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type |
The Cameo |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_1b65dfad |
comment |
The Cameo: Salvador Dalà appears in one scene. Near the end, there's a brief scene in a New York cafe where Stan Lee and Gil Kane (among others) show up to get a cup of coffee. |
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type |
Framing Device |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_1e1afc1b |
comment |
Framing Device: The novel is written as a dramatization of historical reality, including fake citations of historical sources and frequent mentions of the eventual fates of side characters. The Escapist comics published by Dark Horse are in turn presented as "reprints". |
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type |
Stealth Pun |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_1e7c47ab |
comment |
Stealth Pun: When Sam brings Tracy Bacon home, he jokes to himself that he's bringing the biggest piece of treyf in the world to Shabbos dinner. Treyf means (very simplified) "not kosher". Like pork, which bacon is made of. |
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type |
Shoot the Dog |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_2737c505 |
comment |
Shoot the Dog: Literally. Poor Oyster. |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_28cd01ca |
type |
Disappeared Dad |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_28cd01ca |
comment |
Disappeared Dad: Sam's father was always on the road. Just as well, as his relationship with Sam's mother was rather dysfunctional. Joe becomes one to his own son after he joins the Navy and refuses to come home. Sam himself becomes something like one at the very end. |
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Your Son All Along |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_2f9a0236 |
comment |
Your Son All Along: Tommy's parentage, while known to the reader, was unknown to Joe until Rosa and Sam revealed the truth. |
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type |
Dead Guy Junior |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_2fd7200b |
comment |
Dead Guy Junior: Tommy Clay was named after Joe's younger brother, who died when the ship he was travelling to the US in was destroyed by a German U-boat. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_2fd7200b |
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type |
Bittersweet Ending |
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comment |
Bittersweet Ending: Although, considering the gloomy circumstances, perhaps as happy as you could hope. Joe ends up back with Rosa and his son, but Sam is outed as a homosexual and runs away from it all to LA. However, the first page of the book seems to indicate that he did relatively well for himself in the years to follow and there are implications that he and Joe continued to work as Kavalier & Clay, so it's not all sad. |
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type |
Dropped a Bridge on Him |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_43a045de |
comment |
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Tracy Bacon gets this towards the end. A few years after Sam abandons him, we briefly learn that he was killed in the war. |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_466ccbb4 |
type |
Gayngst |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_466ccbb4 |
comment |
Gayngst: Sam Clay is a gay man in the 1940s... so it comes up in force, complete with the addition of Fredric Wertham and the congressional investigations into comicbooks in the 1950s. He is ashamed of his sexuality, and ends up abandoning Tracy because of it. |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_495c9e84 |
type |
Escapism |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_495c9e84 |
comment |
Escapism: The story deals with the theme of literal and metaphorical escapism, especially the way in which various characters use comics to escape the troubles of their lives. Kavalier wants to escape the memory of the Nazis and guilt over his little brother. Clay wishes to escape his closeted gay life and his disability. Together they create the Escapist, a literal escape artist, who gains popularity when the public uses him to escape from the war. |
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type |
Most Writers Are Writers |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_49f6a9e4 |
comment |
Most Writers Are Writers: Kavalier and Clay are comic-book writers and a lot of emphasis is put on their creative process creating superheroes. |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_49f6a9e4 |
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type |
Escapist Character |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_4a8368de |
comment |
Escapist Character: The Escapist, for people in-universe. He starts out as a fantasy of vengeance against anti-Semitism before turning into a borader escapist figure as he gains mainstream popularity. |
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type |
Do Not Do This Cool Thing |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_4fb60159 |
comment |
Do Not Do This Cool Thing: In-universe, and played fairly humourously. Carl Ebling's reports on the comic are intended to be about the evil work of the degenerates corrupting the youth and leading people to war. But over time, his articles and reports shift from angered screeds and criticism to simply him talking about the comic and giving detailed summaries of the latest issue in a way that sounds like he's honestly invested in it. A later one is a four-page-long explication of the events of that month's comic, with the sole criticism being a hasty note in the very last sentence of "Of course all this is the usual Jewish warmongering propaganda." |
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type |
Reassigned to Antarctica |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_5798bfbf |
comment |
Reassigned to Antarctica: Literally. Joe joins the navy in hopes of fighting the Nazis, but he is instead assigned to a remote naval outpost in Antarctica, miles away from any actual battles. This is particularly hard on him, as he only enlisted so he could avenge his little brother, who was killed in a German torpedo attack. |
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type |
Time Skip |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_5fcb9ad1 |
comment |
Time Skip: A few years during World War II and a whopping decade after. |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_616a4c |
type |
Give the Baby a Father |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_616a4c |
comment |
Give the Baby a Father: When Sam finds out Rosa is pregnant and considering having an abortion, he suggests getting married and raising the child together. She accepts. |
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type |
Commie Nazis |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_6451e544 |
comment |
Commie Nazis: Once World War II ends, the people who own The Escapist have no problem switching his villains from the Nazis to The Soviets. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_6451e544 |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_6451e544 |
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type |
Secret Secret-Keeper |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_6760ff37 |
comment |
Secret Secret-Keeper: Almost everyone for Sam. His mother figures out the attraction between him and Tracy before he does himself, and Rosa pegs him as gay shortly after meeting him. |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_6bda9a30 |
type |
Meaningful Name |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_6bda9a30 |
comment |
Meaningful Name: Sam Clay's real last name is Klayman, or "Clay Man." The book heavily references the story of the Golem, another Clay Man. Kavalier is a play on the French "cavale", meaning escape. Joe's escape artist stage name is The Amazing Cavalieri, putting the emphasis closer to the French. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_6bda9a30 |
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type |
All Germans Are Nazis |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_7089d02e |
comment |
All Germans Are Nazis: Deconstructed. Joe ends up venting his hatred of the Nazis on anyone who looks even vaguely German, regardless of whether they support Hitler. Near the end when he's stationed in Antarctica with the Navy, he's so desperate to kill some Nazis that he goes out of his way to track down and kill an innocent German geologist. He immediately feels terrible about it. Ironically, in one scene he actually saves the life of the Spaniard Salvador DalÃ, apparently unaware that he's a prominent Fascist. |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_735b3587 |
type |
Naked First Impression |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_735b3587 |
comment |
Naked First Impression / Naked on Arrival: How Joe first meets Rosa. He and Sam are trying to get into the apartment building where the local cartoonists work, but the front door's locked, so he scales the fire escape and goes in through the window...only to find Rosa lying on the couch completely naked. As soon as his friends find out, one of them pays him to draw her naked from memory. |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_735b3587 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_7842867 |
type |
Vengeance Feels Empty |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_7842867 |
comment |
Vengeance Feels Empty: Joe Kavalier escaped Czechoslovkia prior to US entry into World War II and spent two years cultivating his rage over the Nazi occupation of Prague, resettlement of his family, death of his father and finally, death of his beloved brother by German U-Boat. Hell-bent on revenge, Joe joins the navy in hopes of killing German soldiers. By way of Antarctica, he finally achieves his goal of murdering a German. However, the man was an innocent scientist and Joe's successful revenge made him feel like "the worst man in the world." |
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type |
Closet Key |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_7b7182fe |
comment |
Closet Key: Tracy Bacon for Sam Clay. Sam's mother knows this before he does. |
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type |
The Night That Never Ends |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_7f67e11 |
comment |
The Night That Never Ends: A realistic example of the trope, where enduring the Antarctic winter has detrimental effects on the mental health of Joe and the pilot Shannenhouse. |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_8387bb18 |
type |
Good Girls Avoid Abortion |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_8387bb18 |
comment |
Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Rosa considers having an abortion after Joe decides to enlist in the US Navy. Instead, she accepts Sam's proposal of getting married and raising the child together. |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_8387bb18 |
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type |
Straight Gay |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_83b44e80 |
comment |
Straight Gay: All of the gay men in the novel are rather inconspicuous. Of course, they had to be. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_83b44e80 |
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type |
"Dear John" Letter |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_96cc4848 |
comment |
"Dear John" Letter: Inverted. Joe was the one who left a note for Rosa before leaving for Antarctica. |
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type |
Impossibly Awesome Magic Trick |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_a9f1b1bb |
comment |
Impossibly Awesome Magic Trick: During a business meeting Kavalier's magician background comes up and he is asked for a demonstration. He manages to make a lit cigarette disappear and then reapper inside someone else's cigarette case. (Later in the story, when he's working as a professional magician, the boy whose Bar Mitzvah he's performing at catches him planting cards for a trick to be done during the banquet, so it's not like there is no acknowledgement of magic's need for setup.) |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_ad806839 |
type |
Sexual Extortion |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_ad806839 |
comment |
Sexual Extortion: A particularly cruel one. A house party of gay men is busted by the authorities, and one of the agents coerces the last one found into providing sexual favors to avoid arrest. (Even more cruelly, it's strongly implied that the agent was then going to arrest him anyway so he could assault him further, which is only avoided by a very lucky chance phone call.) Sam says yes. |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_ad806839 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_b5788780 |
type |
Jewish and Nerdy |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_b5788780 |
comment |
Jewish and Nerdy: Sam and Joe are intelligent Jewish boys whose main claim to fame is creating a superhero comic. Both can be socially awkward at times. However, Joe is more physically impressive than usual examples of the trope. |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_b5788780 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_b593baf1 |
type |
Author Filibuster |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_b593baf1 |
comment |
Author Filibuster: The narrator occasionally stops the action in the middle of conversations to go on, at length, about just how awesome '40s comics were. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_b593baf1 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_b593baf1 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_b593baf1 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_b6ec7566 |
type |
Twofer Token Minority |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_b6ec7566 |
comment |
Twofer Token Minority: Sam is Jewish and Nerdy, Straight Gay, and walks on crutches due to a childhood bout with Polio. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_b6ec7566 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_b6ec7566 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_b6ec7566 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_beb932ca |
type |
Big Applesauce |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_beb932ca |
comment |
Big Applesauce: Not surprising, New York hosted many Jewish immigrants during this time. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_beb932ca |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_beb932ca |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_beb932ca |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c104b27e |
type |
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids? |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c104b27e |
comment |
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: In-universe example, but reflective of real life. Joe channels a great deal of his hatred of The Nazis into some very detailed, but graphically violent fight comics. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c104b27e |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c104b27e |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c104b27e |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c2288824 |
type |
A Nazi by Any Other Name |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c2288824 |
comment |
A Nazi by Any Other Name: The "Razis", led by evil dictator "Atilla Haxoff" (and similar pseudonyms), when Executive Meddling forces them to lay off the Germans, since they're not yet at war with them. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c2288824 |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c2288824 |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c2288824 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c2299d6e |
type |
Cutting the Knot |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c2299d6e |
comment |
Cutting the Knot: According to Kornblum, Harry Houdini had his wife sneak him a key in a glass of water when he couldn't escape a lock. This is used as An Aesop about The Power of Love. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c2299d6e |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c2299d6e |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c2299d6e |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c3182167 |
type |
Golem |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c3182167 |
comment |
Golem: There is a lengthy subplot that manages to involve the Golem of Prague, World War II, and Harry Houdini. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c3182167 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c3182167 |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c3182167 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c335b9ec |
type |
Irony |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c335b9ec |
comment |
Irony: Joe tries to take out his anger at the Nazis by picking fights with every German-looking person he runs across. He ends up in fights with lots of innocent German-Americans who want nothing to do with Hitler. But when he runs into Salvador Dalà (who actually is a fascist), he ends up saving his life. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c335b9ec |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c335b9ec |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c335b9ec |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c5b47b36 |
type |
Offscreen Moment of Awesome |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c5b47b36 |
comment |
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Joe's trek across Antarctica is almost entirely skipped over. First, his pilot dies shortly into the trip and he is forced to continue flying it alone with no experience. After killing the German, he treks on foot across the Tundra and barely survives by finding an old pre-war German base camp and holing up. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c5b47b36 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c5b47b36 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c5b47b36 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c75df49a |
type |
Shout-Out |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c75df49a |
comment |
Shout-Out: Clay's father is called the Mighty Molecule - it's a reference to the Golden Age Atom. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c75df49a |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c75df49a |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
hasFeature |
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_c75df49a |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_d6af093d |
type |
Bleak Border Base |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_d6af093d |
comment |
Bleak Border Base: Joe signs up for the navy when the US enters World War II, but is literally Reassigned to Antarctica, serving as a radio operator at Kelvinator Station, keeping an eye on the minimal German presence in Antarctica. And then all the other base personnel die from a carbon monoxide leak. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_d6af093d |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_d6af093d |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_d6af093d |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_da12bcfb |
type |
You Can't Go Home Again |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_da12bcfb |
comment |
You Can't Go Home Again: Joe, in respect to both New York and Prague. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_da12bcfb |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_da12bcfb |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_da12bcfb |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_dd2444d3 |
type |
Shiksa Goddess |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_dd2444d3 |
comment |
Shiksa Goddess: Tracy is the Spear Counterpart of this trope. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_dd2444d3 |
featureApplicability |
1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_dd2444d3 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_dd2444d3 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_dfe57573 |
type |
Historical In-Joke |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_dfe57573 |
comment |
Historical In-Joke: Occasionally, usually involving the long-term future of superheroes and the comicbook industry. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_dfe57573 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_dfe57573 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_dfe57573 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e34400ab |
type |
Ambiguously Gay |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e34400ab |
comment |
Ambiguously Gay: Discussed Trope. The Senate committee grills Sam about the fact that he constantly creates young male sidekicks for his characters, and all but calls Batman gay. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e34400ab |
featureApplicability |
1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e34400ab |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
hasFeature |
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e34400ab |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e50987a9 |
type |
Reconstruction |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e50987a9 |
comment |
Reconstruction: Reconstructs Golden Age superhero stories by telling a story from the POV of the men who wrote them, showing how important they are to American culture and American Jewish culture specifically. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e50987a9 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e50987a9 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e50987a9 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e5421161 |
type |
Expy |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e5421161 |
comment |
Expy: Joe's escapologist trade is influenced by real-life comic book artist Jim Steranko, who was also an escape artist and magician before becoming a comic book artist. Steranko was also the inspiration for the Jack Kirby character Mister Miracle, and Chabon has acknowledged the connection. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e5421161 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e5421161 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
hasFeature |
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e5421161 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e6ab61d |
type |
Magic Realism |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e6ab61d |
comment |
Magic Realism: The subplot about the Golem of Prague has a touch of this. In particular, the circumstances under which its crate found its way to the house in Long Island. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e6ab61d |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e6ab61d |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_e6ab61d |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_eb682304 |
type |
Wartime Wedding |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_eb682304 |
comment |
Wartime Wedding: Rosa and Sam's wedding is a variation of this. It's also combined with The Beard and Altar the Speed. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_eb682304 |
featureApplicability |
1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_eb682304 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_eb682304 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f1d6144a |
type |
War Is Hell |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f1d6144a |
comment |
War Is Hell: Reconstructed in a (mostly) non-combat situation. Joe is eager to fight the Nazis and pay them back for murdering his family, but, because he's a native German speaker, he ends up far away from the fighting intercepting radio transmissions, at an outpost in Mysterious Antarctica, where the only thing to fight is the harsh conditions. He sees all his comrades die, pointlessly, from a carbon monoxide leak. He does shoot one German— who turns out to be a nice guy and not at all a Nazi. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f1d6144a |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f1d6144a |
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| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f1d6144a |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f36c4f98 |
type |
Easily Forgiven |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f36c4f98 |
comment |
Easily Forgiven: Rosa easily takes back Joe after he ran off for thirteen years, then came back and initiated a Zany Scheme to, essentially, bungee jump off the Empire State Building. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f36c4f98 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f36c4f98 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f36c4f98 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f6a9024b |
type |
Altar the Speed |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f6a9024b |
comment |
Altar the Speed: Sam and Rosa's marriage was rushed to avoid her having Joe's child out of wedlock. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f6a9024b |
featureApplicability |
1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f6a9024b |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f6a9024b |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f946a529 |
type |
Superdickery |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f946a529 |
comment |
Superdickery: The trope is outlined in full, with the Escapist participating in a classic example, when the book chronicles the '50s. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f946a529 |
featureApplicability |
1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f946a529 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_f946a529 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_fa068232 |
type |
Bodybag Trick |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_fa068232 |
comment |
Bodybag Trick: Inverted. Joe is smuggled out of Nazi-occupied Prague in a coffin with the Golem of Prague, which has been disguised as an unusually large corpse. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_fa068232 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_fa068232 |
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1.0 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_fa068232 |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_ffad4e9f |
type |
Shown Their Work |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_ffad4e9f |
comment |
Shown Their Work: The book even has an extended bibliography. |
| | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_ffad4e9f |
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1.0 |
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_ffad4e9f |
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ItemName |
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|
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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / int_name |
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itemName |
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay |
