The Mailer Review/Volume 4, 2010/Norman Mailer's The Fight: Hemingway, Bullfighting, and the Lovely Metaphysics of Boxing: Difference between revisions
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Just as Hemingway mimics Romero’s clarity, classicism, and linearity in prose{{efn|The first draft of ''The Sun Also Rises'' originally began in medias res, beginning in Spain, then flashing back to Paris. The change to linearity transcends a narratological decision to achieve thematic importance. For the essential study of ''The Sun Also Rises''’s composition and its implications, see Svoboda.}}, Mailer links the passes of his narrative, endeavoring to reach a narrative climax just as the fight reaches its dramatic climax in the eighth round. Unlike Hemingway, who did not cling to figurative language in a conspicuous quest to have the reader understand perfectly a situation which he might not have ever seen before, Mailer’s sequence of comparisons rises to the task as the most memorable writerly performance in his account of the “Rumble in the Jungle.” | Just as Hemingway mimics Romero’s clarity, classicism, and linearity in prose{{efn|The first draft of ''The Sun Also Rises'' originally began in medias res, beginning in Spain, then flashing back to Paris. The change to linearity transcends a narratological decision to achieve thematic importance. For the essential study of ''The Sun Also Rises''’s composition and its implications, see Svoboda.}}, Mailer links the passes of his narrative, endeavoring to reach a narrative climax just as the fight reaches its dramatic climax in the eighth round. Unlike Hemingway, who did not cling to figurative language in a conspicuous quest to have the reader understand perfectly a situation which he might not have ever seen before, Mailer’s sequence of comparisons rises to the task as the most memorable writerly performance in his account of the “Rumble in the Jungle.” | ||
A few years earlier, Mailer warned his readers that “Sooner or later, fight metaphors, like fight managers, go sentimental. They go military” ([[King of the Hill]]{{sfn|Mailer|1971|p=66}}. True to his word, the first similes of the eighth round follow such a trope: Ali chooses his shots “as if he had a reserve of good punches. . . like a soldier in a siege who counts his bullets”{{sfn|Mailer|1975|p=206}}. Some of the exchanges at the beginning of round eight recall the “great bombardment” of the fifth{{sfn|Mailer|1975|p=207}}, which Mailer calls one of the greatest in the history of boxing, with a “shelling reminiscent of artillery battles in World War I”{{sfn|Mailer|1975|p=195). While Mailer may caution us of the glibness of comparing boxing to warfare, he gleefully perpetuates the absurdity; he well knows that three minutes of getting punched by a man—even by George Foreman—is nothing like a world war, but he willingly adopts the parlance and conventions of boxing writing. | A few years earlier, Mailer warned his readers that “Sooner or later, fight metaphors, like fight managers, go sentimental. They go military” ([[King of the Hill]]){{sfn|Mailer|1971|p=66}}. True to his word, the first similes of the eighth round follow such a trope: Ali chooses his shots “as if he had a reserve of good punches. . . like a soldier in a siege who counts his bullets”{{sfn|Mailer|1975|p=206}}. Some of the exchanges at the beginning of round eight recall the “great bombardment” of the fifth{{sfn|Mailer|1975|p=207}}, which Mailer calls one of the greatest in the history of boxing, with a “shelling reminiscent of artillery battles in World War I”{{sfn|Mailer|1975|p=195). While Mailer may caution us of the glibness of comparing boxing to warfare, he gleefully perpetuates the absurdity; he well knows that three minutes of getting punched by a man—even by George Foreman—is nothing like a world war, but he willingly adopts the parlance and conventions of boxing writing. | ||
Towards the end of the seventh round, Mailer uses scenery-chewing similes to control the pace of the narrative, the better to convey Foreman’s mighty fatigue. | Towards the end of the seventh round, Mailer uses scenery-chewing similes to control the pace of the narrative, the better to convey Foreman’s mighty fatigue. | ||
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{{Cite book|last=Hemingway|first=Ernest|authormask=1|title=For Whom the Bell Tolls|date=1940|location=New York|publisher=Scribner’s|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | {{Cite book|last=Hemingway|first=Ernest|authormask=1|title=For Whom the Bell Tolls|date=1940|location=New York|publisher=Scribner’s|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | ||
{{Cite book |editor-last=Hemingway |editor-first=Ernest |editormask=1 |title=Men at War: The Best War Stories of All Time |date=1942 |location=New York |publisher=Crown Publishers |medium=Print |ref=harv}} | {{Cite book|editor-last=Hemingway |editor-first=Ernest |editormask=1 |title=Men at War: The Best War Stories of All Time |date=1942 |location=New York |publisher=Crown Publishers |medium=Print |ref=harv}} | ||
{{Cite book|last=Hemingway|first=Ernest|authormask=1|title=The Nick Adams Stories|date=1972|location=New York|publisher=Scribner's|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | {{Cite book|last=Hemingway|first=Ernest|authormask=1|title=The Nick Adams Stories|date=1972|location=New York|publisher=Scribner's|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | ||
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{{Cite book|last=Hemingway |first=Ernest |authormask=1 |title=The Sun Also Rises |date=1926|location=New York|publisher=Scribner’s |medium=Print |ref=harv}} | {{Cite book|last=Hemingway |first=Ernest |authormask=1 |title=The Sun Also Rises |date=1926|location=New York|publisher=Scribner’s |medium=Print |ref=harv}} | ||
{{Cite book |last=Hemingway |first=Ernest |authormask=1 |title=The Sun Also Rises: A Facsimile Edition |volume=One |editor-last=Bruccoli |editor-first=Matthew J. |date=1990 |location=Detroit |publisher=Omnigraphics |medium=Print |ref=harv}} | {{Cite book|last=Hemingway |first=Ernest |authormask=1 |title=The Sun Also Rises: A Facsimile Edition |volume=One |editor-last=Bruccoli |editor-first=Matthew J. |date=1990 |location=Detroit |publisher=Omnigraphics |medium=Print |ref=harv}} | ||
{{cite magazine|last=Klosterman|first=Chuck|title=Nothing to Worry About|magazine=Esquire|pages=56-57|date=Feb 2008|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | {{cite magazine|last=Klosterman|first=Chuck|title=Nothing to Worry About|magazine=Esquire|pages=56-57|date=Feb 2008|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | ||
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{{cite book|last=Mailer|first=Norman and John Buffalo Mailer|title=The Big Empty: Dialogues on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker, and Bad Conscience in America|location=New York|publisher=Nation Books|date=2006|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | {{cite book|last=Mailer|first=Norman and John Buffalo Mailer|title=The Big Empty: Dialogues on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker, and Bad Conscience in America|location=New York|publisher=Nation Books|date=2006|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | ||
{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Michael S.|title=Hemingway’s First War: The Making of A Farewell to Arms|location=Princeton, NJ|publisher=Princeton UP|date=1976|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | {{cite book|last=Reynolds |first=Michael S.|title=Hemingway’s First War: The Making of A Farewell to Arms|location=Princeton, NJ|publisher=Princeton UP|date=1976|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | ||
{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Michael S. |authormask=1 |title=Hemingway: The Paris Years|location=Cambridge, MA|publisher=Basil Blackwell|date=1989|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | {{cite book|last=Reynolds |first=Michael S. |authormask=1 |title=Hemingway: The Paris Years|location=Cambridge, MA|publisher=Basil Blackwell|date=1989|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | ||
{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Michael S. |authormask=1 |title=The Young Hemingway|location=New York|publisher=Norton|date=1998|medium=Print|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | {{cite book|last=Reynolds |first=Michael S. |authormask=1 |title=The Young Hemingway|location=New York|publisher=Norton|date=1998|medium=Print|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | ||
{{cite book|last=Ross|first=Lillian|title=Portrait of Hemingway|location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=1961|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | {{cite book|last=Ross|first=Lillian|title=Portrait of Hemingway|location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=1961|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | ||
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{{cite book|last=Svoboda|first=Frederic Joseph|title=Ernest Hemingway & The Sun Also Rises: The crafting of a Style|location=Lawrence, KS|publisher=UP of Kansas|date=1983|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | {{cite book|last=Svoboda|first=Frederic Joseph|title=Ernest Hemingway & The Sun Also Rises: The crafting of a Style|location=Lawrence, KS|publisher=UP of Kansas|date=1983|medium=Print|ref=harv}} | ||
{{cite AV media |title=When We Were Kings |people=Perf. Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Don King, James Brown |date=1996 |medium=Film & Print |ref=harv}} | {{cite AV media|title=When We Were Kings |people=Perf. Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Don King, James Brown |date=1996 |medium=Film & Print |ref=harv}} | ||
{{Refend}} | {{Refend}} | ||