The United States has a tradition of excellent sports fiction written over many decades - one recalls Richard Ford's The Sportswriter, Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon, and an entire plethora of sporting movies from Field of Dreams to Any Given Sunday.
It's noticeable however, that despite a global appeal, and thus the potential for copious works in multiple language, football's literary voice has largely been silent, with no stellar work based on the sport or using football as the background to a larger theme. Fever Pitch passes muster as a diverting read, but suffers from Hornby being the sole point of focus, and while The Damned United has been praised, it comes across as a hyperbolic monologue, a solipsistic caricature of its subject, with all supporting characters reduced to beige wallpaper.
Could it be the case that the artificial divide between "high" and "low" culture still remains in the minds of both authors and literary critics, with sport largely considered as too mundane for the rarefied milieu of the novel?
It's noticeable however, that despite a global appeal, and thus the potential for copious works in multiple language, football's literary voice has largely been silent, with no stellar work based on the sport or using football as the background to a larger theme. Fever Pitch passes muster as a diverting read, but suffers from Hornby being the sole point of focus, and while The Damned United has been praised, it comes across as a hyperbolic monologue, a solipsistic caricature of its subject, with all supporting characters reduced to beige wallpaper.
Could it be the case that the artificial divide between "high" and "low" culture still remains in the minds of both authors and literary critics, with sport largely considered as too mundane for the rarefied milieu of the novel?
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