Talk:Michael Chabon

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Contents 1 "Final Solution" written in 2004? 2 Reverted a major rewrite 3 "gay writer" reverts 4 Film 5 Editing problem 6 "Homosexuality as a theme" section 7 Grady Tripp's novels 8 "Sexual orientation as a theme" section and undue weight

[edit] "Final Solution" written in 2004?

I was under the impression that "Final Solution" was written as a short story published in "Harper's" before its publication as a novella.

[edit] Reverted a major rewrite

The series of anonymous edits that started on August 9 had the effect of throwing out most of a small but solid article, replacing it with outrageously POV statements and bad writing. I don't think subsequent edits should be based on that version. If 69.37.33.235 wants to reinstate some of his/her language, he/she can do it one sentence at a time and provide justifications in the edit summaries. There have been a few good edits by others since then, which I'll try to duplicate. ←Hob 17:20, August 24, 2005 (UTC)

Oh, actually most of those later edits were just damage control. Well, let's move on. ←Hob 17:23, August 24, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "gay writer" reverts

To the anonymous editor who keeps changing the "gay writer" passage: if you feel strongly enough about it, please discuss it here, rather than just repeating the same revert; edit summaries are not the right venue for a debate. As for "who cares" - it's notable because Chabon and his critics thought it was notable. It figured pretty prominently in the reviews of his first few books, and many of his interviews - a lot of critics just assumed that no straight writer would choose to write about gay protagonists, or would be able to do it at all well. It's interesting both as a footnote to Chabon's biography and as a symptom of widespread attitudes about literature and identity. ←Hob 03:59, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

Is it possible to create a section for that? I mean, there's sporadic details in a bunch of the articles about his books.

[edit] Film

"...and is at work on a rewrite of a project for Disney, a live-action martial arts retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to be directed by master Hong Kong fight choreographer and director Yuen Wo Ping."

I put a ^{[citation needed]} after this, because even though I know this is true, it sounds ludicrous in and of itself and I couldn't find a credible source to support it. Anyone have one they care to link to?

68.9.101.244 22:20, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

How about Michael Chabon's own website:

Snow and the Seven

As of March 29, 2006, 12:59 AM

Writing is ongoing for this Disney/Yuen Wo Ping martial arts fantasy.

http://www.michaelchabon.com/works/

ShelfSkewed 03:57, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

swell. can we put it on the page itself?

68.9.101.244 01:14, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Done and done--with two additional references, as well.

ShelfSkewed 02:01, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing problem

Can anyone with more Wikipedia experience explain to me what I might have done wrong trying to edit this page? When I previewed my edits, everything was fine, but when I saved the page, half the article disappeared. I fixed the mistake (twice) by reverting to a previous version, but I've never had that happen before. Thanks in advance for any advice.ShelfSkewed 04:34, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

You were trying to add a biography section right? I just tried and it seemed to work fine for me, unless you're refering to something else. I don't know what the problem would be. -Fearfulsymmetry 18:03, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

I tried what you did, plus removing the Personal Life heading and moving that sentence to the end of the Biography section. Well, maybe my earlier experience was just a fluke: I just tried it again, and had no problem at all.ShelfSkewed 14:07, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

In case anyone still cares, I ran across this recently in Wikipedia:Article_size: "There is currently (June 2006) a problem with the latest version of Firefox when combined with the Google toolbar. See the Bugzilla case for more information." The Bugzilla link leads to a page citing many, many experiences like mine. And I do use the latest version of Firefox plus the Google toolbar, so I guess that explains it.ShelfSkewed 22:55, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Homosexuality as a theme" section

I read the NY Review of Books article that's linked to in this section. In it, Chabon does mention his own same-sex experiences, but doesn't mention anything about the main character's "homosexuality" as this section previously said it did. Indeed, in the novel, the narrator says that he is not gay, but felt that he needed to expand his range of experiences. So, I moved the citation. I also removed the bit about Chabon being married to a woman since it's superfluous, and if Chabon is bi (I don't know whether he identifies as such), his marriage doesn't contradict that. 213.199.128.149 10:54, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Grady Tripp's novels

Just for future reference, in chronological order:

• The Bottomlands (1976)
• The Arsonist's Girl ("an unpleasant little story of love and madness....a slender volume")
• The Land Downstairs ("won a PEN award and...[sold] twelve thousand copies")
• Wonder Boys (unpublished)

--ShelfSkewed [Talk] 05:28, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Sexual orientation as a theme" section and undue weight

I thought I would clarify this edit of mine. It's already obvious from the quotation from Chabon that he's not gay, and since being gay is purely a matter of self-identification, it's usually best to present this sort of thing in the subject's own words (which is why the quotation from the NY Times interview is good). Saying repeatedly that Chabon "is not gay" veers perilously close to being POV, since it implies it's very important to emphasize that's he's not gay. I think it's also important to avoid using language like this because it's not clear from the article (or from any reliable sources I know of) whether Chabon identifies as bisexual or as heterosexual. The only verifiable information we have in the article is that he's married to a woman now, and has had relationships with people of both sexes in the past. To many people, unfortunately, "not gay" implies "heterosexual", and so it's doubly important to be clear and even-handed. SparsityProblem 22:44, 5 March 2007 (UTC)