Tag Archives: Bernard Malamud

Stephen Strasburg as a Balzac Parable

The strange case of Stephen Strasburg–missing the playoffs if he exceeds his innings pitched limit–has parallels with the Balzac novel “The Magic Skin.”

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Soccer Highs and Lows and a Tennis Epic

John Isner         Sports Saturday – “It’s incredible!  You could not write a script like this!” So proclaimed the announcer in the U. S. – Algeria World Cup match when Landon Donovan netted a stoppage time goal to avoid elimination and send the Americans forward to the next round. In other words, a sports announcer’s ultimate […]

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Will Tiger Woods Weep Bitter Tears?

Sports Saturday “When Roy looked into the boy’s eyes he wanted to say it wasn’t [true] but couldn’t, and he lifted his hands to his face and wept many bitter tears.” (The Natural) In a fine post for the New York Times that I wish I had written, Richard Wright turns to Bernard Malamud’s The […]

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On Mark McGwire and Fallen Idols

Robert Redford in The Natural      I take a momentary break from Margaret Edson’s W;t to address Mark McGwire’s confession yesterday to having used steroids.  The man whose homerun race with Sammy Sosa “saved baseball” and who then refused to “speak about the past” in a Congressional hearing is finally opening up.  Or at least opening […]

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