Dispatches from the Sporting Life - Softcover
Witty and perceptive essays by a sports-obsessed, world-renowned novelist.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From the Inside Flap:
The first book to be set in the new Richler typeface, commissioned by Random House of Canada Limited and Jack Rabinovitch in memory of Mordecai.
Mordecai Richler?s final book pays homage to his personal heroes and celebrates a writer?s love of sport with his trademark irascibility, humour and acuity.
Even while writing his bestselling novels, Mordecai Richler nurtured his obsession with sports, writing brilliantly on ice hockey, baseball, salmon fishing, bodybuilding, and wrestling for such publications as GQ, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Inside Sports, Commentary, and The New York Review of Books. Mordecai himself chose the pieces to include in Dispatches from the Sporting Life, and together they give us an intimate portrait of a man who admired the players and prized the struggle of sport -- as much as he enjoyed skewering those who made a mockery of its principles.
His encounters with Pete Rose, Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe (?Mr. Elbows?the big guy with the ginger-ale bottle shoulders?) are by turns bizarre, moving and uproarious. Richler travelled with Guy LaFleur?s Montreal Canadiens (?Les Canadiens sont là!?), but also with the ?far-from-incomparable? Trail Smoke Eaters to Stockholm for the world hockey championships, where Canadians are ?widely known, and widely disliked.?
There are wonderful pieces here about Ring Lardner, George Plimpton, Hank Greenberg and lady umpires, and a marvellous essay on his unlimited enthusiasm for the all-inclusive Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports, which includes among its champions Sandy Koufax, ?who may well be the greatest pitcher of all time, regardless of race, colour or creed,? as well as one Steve Allan Hertz, an infielder who played five total games in Houston in 1964 and had a batting average of .000.
From the Back Cover:
Mordecai Richler?s final book pays homage to his personal heroes and celebrates a writer?s love of sport with his trademark irascibility, humour and acuity.
Even while writing his bestselling novels, Mordecai Richler nurtured his obsession with sports, writing brilliantly on ice hockey, baseball, salmon fishing, bodybuilding, and wrestling for such publications as GQ, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Inside Sports, Commentary, and The New York Review of Books. Mordecai himself chose the pieces to include in Dispatches from the Sporting Life, and together they give us an intimate portrait of a man who admired the players and prized the struggle of sport -- as much as he enjoyed skewering those who made a mockery of its principles.
His encounters with Pete Rose, Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe (?Mr. Elbows?the big guy with the ginger-ale bottle shoulders?) are by turns bizarre, moving and uproarious. Richler travelled with Guy LaFleur?s Montreal Canadiens (?Les Canadiens sont là!?), but also with the ?far-from-incomparable? Trail Smoke Eaters to Stockholm for the world hockey championships, where Canadians are ?widely known, and widely disliked.?
There are wonderful pieces here about Ring Lardner, George Plimpton, Hank Greenberg and lady umpires, and a marvellous essay on his unlimited enthusiasm for the all-inclusive Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports, which includes among its champions Sandy Koufax, ?who may well be the greatest pitcher of all time, regardless of race, colour or creed,? as well as one Steve Allan Hertz, an infielder who played five total games in Houston in 1964 and had a batting average of .000.
Between such novels as The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, St. Urbain’s Horseman, and Barney’s Version, Mordecai Richler pursued his obsession with sports - and he wrote brilliantly about such sports as ice hockey, baseball, salmon fishing, bodybuilding, and wrestling. His essays and articles appeared in such prominent and diverse places as GQ, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Inside Sports, Commentary, and The New York Review of Books.
Richler spent time with Pete Rose, Wayne Gretzky, and Gordie Howe (when a reporter asked Gordie’s then eighty-year-old father if he was still interested in sex, Howe’s père replied, “You'll have to ask somebody older than me.”) He traveled with Guy LaFleur’s Montreal Canadiens, and with the Trail Smoke-Eaters to Stockholm, for the world hockey championships. When a Swedish reporter confronted the Smoke-Eaters’ coach and accused him of encouraging violence on the ice, the enraged coach replied, “But I condone it absolutely.”
There are shrewdly perceptive pieces here about Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg, and lady umpires, and a marvelous essay on Richler’s unlimited enthusiasm for the all-inclusive Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports, which includes among its champions one Steve Allan Hertz, an infielder who played a total of five games in Houston in 1964 and had a batting average of .000.
This then is a superb novelist writing unforgettably about his obsession with sports. The work sparkles with Richler’s hallmark irony, wit, and shrewd perception. It is a book no sports - or Richler - fan will want to miss.
Richler spent time with Pete Rose, Wayne Gretzky, and Gordie Howe (when a reporter asked Gordie’s then eighty-year-old father if he was still interested in sex, Howe’s père replied, “You'll have to ask somebody older than me.”) He traveled with Guy LaFleur’s Montreal Canadiens, and with the Trail Smoke-Eaters to Stockholm, for the world hockey championships. When a Swedish reporter confronted the Smoke-Eaters’ coach and accused him of encouraging violence on the ice, the enraged coach replied, “But I condone it absolutely.”
There are shrewdly perceptive pieces here about Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg, and lady umpires, and a marvelous essay on Richler’s unlimited enthusiasm for the all-inclusive Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports, which includes among its champions one Steve Allan Hertz, an infielder who played a total of five games in Houston in 1964 and had a batting average of .000.
This then is a superb novelist writing unforgettably about his obsession with sports. The work sparkles with Richler’s hallmark irony, wit, and shrewd perception. It is a book no sports - or Richler - fan will want to miss.
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- PublisherLyons Pr
- Publication date2004
- ISBN 10 1592283004
- ISBN 13 9781592283002
- BindingPaperback
- Edition number1
- Number of pages320
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Dispatches from the Sporting Life
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ISBN 13: 9781592283002
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Dispatches from the Sporting Life
Published by
The Lyons Press
(2004)
ISBN 10: 1592283004
ISBN 13: 9781592283002
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Soft cover
First Edition
Quantity: 1
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