Gentleman of the Road

By Michael Chabon

New York, Ballantine Books, 2007.

It is an adventure story, the kind one imagines young boys pour through and reenact on boring summer afternoons. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon's Gentlemen of the Road, an enormous departure from his previous sophisticated, adult books, follows the exploits and travels of two companions in Middle Ages Central Asia. After devouring Tolstoyian tomes like Wonder Boys or The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Chabon's fans may be turned off by the themes and plots of this latest little book.

But don't be. In addition to Chabon's wonderfully complex and complicated use of language and imagery, the tale is a massive and timely intervention into our conventional thinking about the Middle East and Central Asia, about the great religious conflicts centered in that region that appear timeless, about race and racism, and even about sexuality. Written in a style reminiscent to some of the The Arabian Nights, Gentleman of the Road challenges the neatly package racial, national, and gendered divisions that have been foisted on us as natural, normal, or immutable.

Our main characters are Zelikman and Amram, two Jews who earn their living as hustlers and men of fortune. The French Zelikman and Ethiopian Amram are a study in contrast. Zelikman, pale, blonde and slight, is a physician by training. Amram, massive and dark-skinned, is a retired mercenary for the Byzantine emperor. But both are lonely, brooding souls, victimized by anti-Semitism and the violence of the times. They have spent the last five years sharing their income, their food, their lodgings, and their lives. They are almost inseparable; even imagery of a sexless marriage are implied.

The story opens with the two men encountering a young man, Filaq, who seems to be the son of the recently deposed bek of Khazaria. Most of Filaq's family has been murdered by the usurper Buljan, who, to ensure his hold on the kingdom, is also hunting Filaq. But Zelikman and Amram, not fully comprehending the political ramifications of their actions, plan to return Filaq to his family in Khazaria for a reward. But Filaq has other plans.

As it turns out, Buljan the usurper has struck a deal with Khazaria's northern neighbors, the Rus, to plunder Muslim cities in southern Khazaria, a country mainly ruled by Jews, in order to quash elements there who were loyal to the deposed bek and who might seek to reinstall some remaining members of his family. The previous bek had forged political alliances that crossed religious boundaries of Jews and Muslims in order to keep the marauding Christians from the north at bay. Buljan's intrigues had upset that alliance.

Filaq's goal, in seeking revenge against his family's assassin, is to reforge that alliance. Being a Jew, Filaq has to reach out to those communities dispossessed by the raiders aligned with Buljan. With the aid of Zelikman and Amram and a rag-tag army of thousands of Muslims, Filaq marches on Buljan's fortress. In the process, Zelikman and Amram, who, as gentlemen of the road, claim no affinities or loyalties, come to support a cause larger than themselves. And it is one that defies our modern notions of the racial, religious, and national concepts superimposed on the Middle East we usually deem eternal.

If you miss this book because adventure tales aren't your cup of tea, you will miss one of Chabon's best imaginary constructions. But when you do read this slightly less than 200 page novel, bring your sense of adventure – and your dictionary.