Gentlemen of the Road

infobox Book |
name = Gentlemen of the Road
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Michael Chabon
illustrator = Gary Gianni
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Historical novel, adventure novel
publisher = flagicon|US Del Rey Books,
flagicon|UK Sceptre
release_date = October 30, 2007
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover) and audio CD
pages = 208 pp (1st edition, hardcover)
isbn = ISBN 978-0-345-50174-5 (1st edition, hardcover)
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Gentlemen of the Road" is a 2007 serial novel by American author Michael Chabon. It originally appeared in fifteen installments in "The New York Times Magazine" from January 28 to May 6, 2007. In October 2007, Del Rey Books (Sceptre in the United Kingdom) published the novel in hardcover, with a new afterword written by Chabon. The book is illustrated with black-and-white drawings by comic book artist Gary Gianni. [cite web|url= http://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=397|date= March 16 2007|accessdate= 2007-05-14| title= "Del Rey Acquires Pulitzer Prize-Winner Michael Chabon's New Book" |work= Fresh Fiction]

"Gentlemen of the Road" is a "swashbuckling adventure"cite news | url = http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/1004chabon1004.html |date = 2006-10-04 | title = Author mines Jewish history |last = Lengel |first = Kerry | publisher = The Arizona Republic | accessdate = 2007-01-18] set in the Kingdom of Arran around AD 950. It follows two horsethieves—a massive African Jew named Amram, and a hat-loving Frankish Jew named Zelikman—as they become swept up in a rebellion and try to restore a displaced prince to the throne. The story deals with the Khazars, a Turkic people who embraced Judaism.

Chabon said he agreed to write the serial because he has "always been intrigued by accounts and legends of the Khazars" and the idea of an ancient Jewish Kingdom. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/magazine/11chabon-questions.html?ex=1178337600&en=dfe08dbb8f9c3492&ei=5070 Michael Chabon Answers Readers' Questions] , The New York Times, 2007-02-08. Retrieved on 2007-05-03.] To prepare for writing the novel (which for a few months had the working title "Jews with Swords"), Chabon researched the Khazars and "tried to let it all sink in." He also re-read the historical romances of Alexandre Dumas, père, Fritz Leiber, George MacDonald Fraser, and Michael Moorcock, to whom the novel is dedicated.

References

External links

* [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article2960637.ece "The adventures of Michael Chabon"] , a review of "Gentlemen of the Road" in "The Times Literary Supplement", by Michael Caines, November 28 2007