- Paperback: 103 pages
- Publisher: Bison Books (April 1 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 080327999X
- ISBN-13: 978-0803279995
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.5 x 0.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 145 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,356,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
On the eve of their wedding, twenty-year-old Jack Fleming arranges a secret ringside seat for his sweetheart to view her only rival: the "game." Through Genevieve's apprehensive eyes, we watch the prizefight that pits her fair young lover, "the Pride of West Oakland," against the savage and brutish John Ponta and that reveals as much about her own nature, and Joe's, as it does about the force that drives the two men in their violent, fateful encounter.
Responding to a review that took him to task for his realism, Jack London wrote, "I have had these experiences and it was out of these experiences, plus a fairly intimate knowledge of prize-fighting in general, that I wrote The Game." With this intimate realism, London took boxing out of the realm of disreputable topics and set it on a respectable literary course that extends from A. J. Liebling to Ernest Hemingway to Joyce Carol Oates. The familiarity of London's boxing writing testifies to its profound influence on later literary commentators on the sport, while the story The Game tells remains one of the most powerful and evocative portraits ever given of prizefighters in the grip of their passion.
About the Author
Jack London (1876–1916) wrote such classics as Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea-Wolf. Introducer Michael Oriard is the author of Reading Football: How the Popular Press Created an American Spectacle and other works. He is a professor of English at Oregon State University.
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First Sentence
Many patterns of carpet lay rolled out before them on the floor-two of Brussels showed the beginning of their quest, and its ending in that direction; while a score of ingrains lured their eyes and prolonged the debate between desire pocket-book. Read the first page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt
Many patterns of carpet lay rolled out before them on the floor-two of Brussels showed the beginning of their quest, and its ending in that direction; while a score of ingrains lured their eyes and prolonged the debate between desire pocket-book. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Straight-forward and engaging Jack London,
By
This review is from: The Game (Paperback)
Jack London had a real interest in boxing, and this work shows just how much he truly understood it. While there is not the development that there was in The Abysmal Brute, this shorter novella holds the interest and has you caring about the characters. It is of historical interest to Jack London fans in that London received negative reviews that called the story's boxing sequences unrealistic, and yet he had letters from championship boxers complimenting him on just how realistic it was.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not Just a Game,
By Dick Stull "Existential Professor" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Game (Paperback)
The Game is a must for any Jack London aficionado or anyone not familiar with the quintessential California adventurer and turn-of-the-century American literary superstar. Penned when London was at the peak of his publishing powers, The Game is about a subject London knew well- boxing. London, who had many a scrape in his time, was a boxing sportswriter for the San Francisco Examiner, sparred with the "Bohemian set" in northern California, and saw allegorical alchemy in the "manly art."Protagonist Jack Fleming is drawn between his love of the game and his fiancée, Genevieve. Though uncomprehending of Jack's love of boxing, Genevieve attends his fight with the savage John Ponta. The lead-up and resolution is representative of London's themes of the civilized vs. the brute, class struggle, melodramatic love, and man's violent nature. Oregon Sate Professor Literature Michael Oriard's fine historical and biographical commentary in the introduction details how London's The Game was a forerunner of later works by Ernest Hemingway, Don DeLillo, Bernard Malamud and Robert Coover. Oriard reveals how London was a man of his time who romanticized both the working class and the Nietzschean super-hero. His citations of London's newspaper articles and personal correspondence give cultural context to this story/allegory, which London himself called one of his personal favorites. American Ashcan painter George Bellow's famous painting "Club Night" from the National Gallery graces the cover of this edition. Bellow's fighters in primal struggle along with the distorted faces and blood lust of the crowd is a perfect pick for London's The Game. This book is a classic piece in boxing fiction, representative of many recurring themes in London's works and some would argue a timeless take on human nature. 2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Straight-forward and engaging Jack London,
By Bobby Newman - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Game (Paperback)
Jack London had a real interest in boxing, and this work shows just how much he truly understood it. While there is not the development that there was in The Abysmal Brute, this shorter novella holds the interest and has you caring about the characters. It is of historical interest to Jack London fans in that London received negative reviews that called the story's boxing sequences unrealistic, and yet he had letters from championship boxers complimenting him on just how realistic it was.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great choice for a quick single sitting read,
By T.M. Reader - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Game (Paperback)
A five star book for what it is . . .This is an engaging quick-reading novella. On the surface it's about prize-fighting, which London had some experience with. Deeper, the author shows remarkable insight as to the intricate workings of courtship between boy and girl (with prizefighting being "the other woman" in this case), and indeed even broader implications for the whole man/woman relationship tangle. Simply and powerfully written, but not really a simple story. I really enjoyed this, and it's so short that this is a no-risk reading endeavor. |
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