Introduction : Sports And American Literature / Michael Cocchiarale And Scott D. Emmert -- Part I. Who's Keeping Score? Values And Sports In American Literature -- Batters And Archetypes : Baseball As Trope In Mid-century American Literature / David C. Dougherty -- War ... May Hasten This Change Of Values : The World War Ii-era Writings Of John R. Tunis / Ryan K. Anderson -- Partway There : The Mexican League And American Conflict In Mark Winegardner's The Veracruz Blues / Chris York -- The Machine-language Of The Muscles : Reading, Sport, And The Self In Infinite Jest / Stephen J. Burn -- Part Ii. Leaping Hurdles : Race, Class, And Sports In American Literature -- White S(ox) Vs. Indians : Sports And Unresolved Cultural Conflict In Native American Fiction / Greg Ahrenhoerster -- Basketball's Demands In Paul Beatty's The White Boy Shuffle / Tracy Curtis -- Fairways Of His Imagination : Golf And Social Status In F. Scott Fitzgerald's Fiction / A. Fletcher Cole -- Dualism And The Quest For Wholeness In Arna Bontemps's God Sends Sunday / Lisa Abney -- Part Iii. Put A Body On 'em : Gender And Sports In American Literature -- The Female Voice In American Sports Literature And The Quest For A Female Sporting Identity / Susan J. Bandy -- Monsters And Face Queens In Harry Crews's Body / Andrew J. Price -- Hypermasculinity And Sport In James Dickey's Deliverance / Mark S. Graybill -- The Football Elegies Of James Dickey And Randall Jarrell : Hegemonic Masculinity Versus The Semifemine Mind / Diederik Oostdijk -- Dancing With The Bulls : Engendering Competition In Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises And Silko's Ceremony / Ron Picard -- Part Iv. What A Beautiful Play! Language, Aesthetics, And Sports In American Literature -- Fouling Out The American Pastoral : Rereading Philip Roth's The Great American Novel / Derek Parker Royal -- And Drive Them From The Temple : Baseball And The Prophet In Eric Rolfe Greenberg's The Celebrant / Roxanne Harde -- The Mob Of Carefree Men And Boys : Vanity Of Duluoz And Kerouac's Panoramic Consciousness / Matthew Kelley -- And That's The Ball Game! : Cognitive Linguistics, The Life Is A Game Metaphor And The Late Twentieth-century Southern Novel / Suzanne Disheroon-green. Edited By Michael Cocchiarale And Scott D. Emmert. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [201]-204) And Index.

Cocchiarale, Michael, 1966-; Emmert, Scott, 1962-

Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated

Westport, Conn.: Praeger

ABC-CLIO, LLC

United States, United States of America

September 30, 2004

PS, 2004

Includes bibliographical references (p. [201]-204) and index.

Over the course of the last century, American fiction writers and poets have used sports figures and sporting events in order to make significant points on themes of identity as they are connected to gender, race, class, and nationality. The contributors to this volume examine American literature that uses sports as a trope to explore or disturb core values of this country. They explore individual works in order to uncover the rich connections between those works' use of sports and issues of importance to American culture from approximately 1920 to the end of the twentieth century.
Focusing on four general themes, this volume offers a range of commentary on a variety of American literature. The first section features essays that explain how sports are used by writers to explore or critique American values. The next two sections contain essays that investigate the ways in which writers have used sports to express ideas about race, class, and gender. The final section turns to questions of aesthetics, featuring essays that concentrate on form, technique, and language itself. Together, contributors cover a number of literary works that feature a wide variety of sports, from the expected (baseball) to the more surprising (body building and wilderness adventuring).

xxiv, 219 p. ; 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references (p. [201]-204) and index

2023-06-28