Synopses & Reviews
Sport has taken on a power in this century that ranks it as one of the major forces that shapes our lives: billions of dollars spent, endless media coverage, the showcase for youth's most recognizable role models, even acting as the framework for events that have massive political and social consequences. But what is the essence of sport -- the element that touches us on an individual level -- that gives it this communal sway?
For Body Language: Writers on Sport, the second book in the Graywolf Forum Series, cultural critic Gerald Early has gathered a collection of thirteen writers who offer personal reflections on this public obsession: from the pool hustler to the closet baseball fan; from late-night rodeo on cable TV to tennis games on the weathered fields of Illinois; from the aging basketball player to the anxious young girl determining whether to strike out the boy who is her friend. But beyond fan or competitor or social commentator, these writers are storytellers, and it is in the personal stories these essays tell -- poignant, funny, extreme, illuminating -- that we begin to identify the themes that galvanize both sport and literature: conflict and sacrifice, ritual and passion, coming-of-age and heroism.
Synopsis
Body Language: Writers on Sport, the second book in the Graywolf Forum Series, gathers thirteen contemporary creative writers who offer personal reflections on our public obsession: from the pool hustler to the closet baseball fan; from late-night rodeo on cable TV to tennis games on the weathered fields of Illinois; from the aging basketball player to the anxious young girl determining whether to strike out the boy who is her friend. Through these individual narratives we begin to recognize the universal themes that galvanize both sport and literature: conflict and sacrifice, ritual and passion, humiliation and heroism.
Contributors:
Gerald Early
Jonis Agee
Teri Bostian
Cecil Brown
Wayne Fields
Lorraine Kee
Phillip Lopate
James A. McPherson
Vijay Seshadri
Kris Vervaecke
Loic Wacquant
Anthony Walton
David Foster Wallace
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About the Author
Gerald Early (editor) is the author of
The Culture of Bruising: Essays on Prize Fighting, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.