Joyce Carol Oates, On Boxing

Julie Sheridan (Trinity College Dublin)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Domains

Sport and Leisure

Dates

First circulation or publication 1987

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Essays/ Lectures (any)

Resources

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Joyce Carol Oates's book-length essay

On Boxing

is at once a concise survey of the “unique, closed, self-referential world” inhabited by professional boxers (13) and a searching analysis of the cultural and metaphysical dimensions of prizefighting. Oates's lifelong fascination with boxing, sparked by her father's enthusiasm for the sport, intensified during the mid-1980s when she embarked on research for her novel

You Must Remember This

(1987), a vivid representation of post-war America that features pugilism as a prominent theme. The material gathered in the course of her research provided the basis for what would eventually become a study of America's most controversial sporting tradition. Although

On Boxing

now occupies an important place within Oates's extensive canon, its genesis…

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3400 words

Citation: Sheridan, Julie. "On Boxing". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 November 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=28511, accessed 26 November 2024.]