Literary whiplash!
How in the world am I supposed to transition from a fantasy story of hobbits and elves and orcs and wizards and a magic ring into the story of a gloomy depressed and divorced sportswriter who recently lost his son?
Good question. I don’t know, but let’s give it a try.
Here are a few facts about The Sportswriter and its author Richard Ford:
- The Sportswriter was published in 1986.
- The novel is the first of Richard Ford’s “Bascombe Trilogy” which includes Independence Day (1995) and The Lay of the Land (2006).
- But hark! It is a trilogy no more. Ford has written a 4th novel as part of the Bascombe series. This one is titled Let Me Be Frank With You, and is scheduled for release on November 4, 2014.
- In 2007, Variety reported that The Sportswriter was being turned into a 6-part miniseries for HBO. As of 2014, that hasn’t happened. The project appears to have been shelved.
- Richard Ford won the Pulitzer Prize for Independence Day, his follow up to The Sportswriter in 1995.
- Ford, originally from Jackson, Mississippi, is currently on the faculty at Columbia University. He’s 70 years old.
One item worth noting. Ford’s Bascombe trilogy has been compared to John Updike’s Rabbit trilogy, which includes Rabbit Run, a book I read as part of the list.
Both follow one man over a long period of time and through a period of growth and maturity, a coming of age story in a sense.
Despite the literary whiplash, I’m excited about plunging forward into The Sportswriter!
Anyone read it?
