SOURCE: “Michael Chabon: Wonder Boy in Transition,” in Publishers Weekly, Vol. 242, No. 15, April 10, 1995, pp. 44–45.

In the following interview, See discusses Chabon's life, publishing history, and the origins of Wonder Boys.

Michael Chabon, once pegged as a wonder boy for his first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, languidly lounges in an overstuffed-chair in his Spanish duplex in Los Angeles. With lanky hair, loose-fitting clothes and a modest demeanor, he looks like a nice boy that any mother would be happy to see her daughter bring home. He's self-deprecating, soft-spoken, and he has the endearing habit of paying more attention to the squeals of delight issuing from his four-month-old daughter in the back bedroom than to the discussion of his long-anticipated new novel, Wonder Boys, just released by Villard.

The novel has wonderfully wry connotations. Narrator Grady Tripp, once deemed a “wonder boy” on the strength of his first novel...