| Description |
xv, 471 pages ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 443-458) and index. |
| Contents |
Individual sports heroism: Male physical self-definition -- Decline of the ritual sports hero -- Mailer: Body as arena -- Mailer: Boxing and the art of his narrative -- Fictions of boxing -- Individual sports heroism: Responses of the play spirit: Play, sacrifice, performance: Kesey and Coover -- Women in sports narrative: Strategies of mimicry -- Decline of the school sports hero -- Anti-heroism: Witness at the center -- Collective sports heroism: Fictions of team sport -- Fictions of football: Between the lines -- Fictions of football: "Why are we playing" -- Fictions of baseball: Baseball and passages -- Fictions of baseball: Baseball historicized -- Fictions of basketball -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index. |
| Summary |
The sequel to Messenger's (English, U. of Illinois at Chicago) Sport and the spirit of play in American fiction: Hawthorne to Faulkner. Covering the period since World War II, he considers over 100 novels, treating them thematically, with separate chapters on the fictions of boxing, football, baseball, and basketball. His theme--the drive toward individual freedom through sport. |
| Subject |
Sports stories, American -- History and criticism.
|
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American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism.
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Play in literature.
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Sports -- Bibliography.
|
| Indexed Term |
English fiction Special subjects Sports |
|
United States |
| Chronological Term |
Geschichte 1945-1988
|
| ISBN |
0231070942 alkaline paper $35.00 |
|
9780231070942 alkaline paper |
|
