The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Chabon writes:

Every golem in the history of the world, from Rabbi Hanina’s delectable goat to the river-clay Frankenstein of Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, was summoned into existence through language, through murmuring, recital, and kabbalistic chitchat—was, literally, talked into life (119).

Joe tells Sam and Julie about his interrupted escape-artist studies with Kornblum. Sam and Julie ask Joe questions about Houdini. Sam is interested in the art of autoliberation. Sam mentions his father was in vaudeville; Joe has heard of him from his own father. Sam asks Joe about his dad, and Joe tells him that he is a good man and a doctor. Sam says, “Maybe what they [Joe’s family] need is like a super-Kornblum” (120). This gets Sam thinking, and the idea for the Escapist is born: a man who has the ability to escape from anything and who uses those abilities to fight evil. Sam has the idea for the Golden Key, a symbol for the Escapist. Sam and Joe think up a costume: dark blue with a skeleton key on the chest. The only problem now is the why.