Detailed view for the Book: On Boxing

Title:

On Boxing
 

Authors:

Genres:

Non-Fiction
Criticism & Commentary
Sport

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Editions:

# Date Publisher Binding Cover
1 1987-00-00 Doubleday  

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Blurb: 
With photographs by John Ranard Some of our greatest writers -- Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Norman Mailer, to name a few -- have written some of their finest prose on the rich and endlessly fascinating subject of boxing. Now, this distinguished company is joined by one of our most popular and respected novelists, Joyce Carol Oates. A longtime aficionado of the sweet science, Oates first became interested in boxing as a child, as an offshoot of her father"s interest. (He took her to Golden Gloves matches, subscribed to The Ring magazine, etc.) She has now focused her thoughts and feelings about boxing in an eloquent, erudite, and illuminating essay which examines boxing from every conceivable aspect: boxing as metaphor, spectacle, dance; the history, lore, and allure of boxing; the question of whether boxing should be banned; boxing in literature and film; women and boxing. On Boxing is also, in part, a feminist document: an attempt to "understand" the mystique of masculinity by looking at this most quintessentially masculine of contact sports; an examination, from the outside, of the male-dominated culture of our time. "In the brightly lit ring, man is in extremis," writes Oates, "performing an atavistic rite or agon for the mysterious solace of those who can participate only vicariously in such drama: the drama of life in the flesh. Boxing has become America"s tragic theater." This exquisite study from the pen of an extraordinary writer ranges from the metaphysical musings on Time and Death to small, informative details like this one: "A well-aimed punch with a heavyweight"s full weight behind it can have the equivalent force of ten thousand pounds." With the text complemented by John Ranard"s poetic and evocative boxing photographs, On Boxing makes for a unique and stunning reading experience.
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