Norman Mailer once wrote, “[Boxing] arouses two of the deepest anxieties we contain. There is not only the fear of getting hurt, which is profound in more men than will admit to it, but there is the opposite panic, equally unadmitted, of hurting others.” Mailer used boxing to explore many… read more
"Literature and Sport"
In the galleries: David Foster Wallace’s copy of John McPhee’s “Levels of the Game”
Considered one of the best books on tennis ever written, John McPhee’s 1969 publication Levels of the Game chronicles Arthur Ashe’s win over Clark Graebner in their 1968 U.S. Open semifinal match. The book offers a nearly stroke-by-stroke account of the match, opening with the first serve and concluding with… read more
In the galleries: A page from the first draft of Don DeLillo’s "Underworld"
Don DeLillo once noted in an interview, “The significance of baseball, more than other sports, lies in the very nature of the game—slow and spread out and rambling. It’s a game of history and memory, a kind of living archive.” DeLillo explored those aspects of the sport in his 1997… read more