"I've seen greatness in baseball."
—Walt Whitman
"Writing is exciting, and baseball is like writing."
—Marianne Moore
When it comes to twentieth-century American literature, "The Catcher in the Rye" is probably one of the first titles to pop into people's minds. J. D. Salinger's masterpiece is generally translated as "The Catcher in the Wheat Field" in Chinese mainland, and another translation in Taiwan: "Catcher in the Wheat Field". Obviously, the biggest difference between the two translations is the translation of the word "Catcher". In connection with the novel's story and Salinger's social context, "Catcher" undoubtedly refers to the catcher of baseball. In the early 1980s, when the game was first introduced by translation, baseball was still relatively unfamiliar to most parts of the country, so "Watchmen" became a conventional translation name. In the context of a baseball game, the catcher needs to catch the ball thrown by the pitcher and direct and guide all the defenders on the field. Salinger's borrowing of this baseball term is naturally a metaphor in the context of American culture. From the perspective of history, it is not an exaggeration to regard "baseball" as a series of "literary events" that have lasted for more than a hundred years in American society, and can even be regarded as an important part of the construction myth of the so-called "American identity".
As a ball game that originated before the Civil War and was native to the North American continent, baseball gradually became an important part of American society and culture as early as the middle of the nineteenth century, and this process is naturally reflected in various literary creations. The history of baseball as an object of depiction by American writers can be traced back at least to the famous poet Walter Whitman, the author of Blades of Grass. When baseball was in its infancy in the 1850s, he began to notice and fascinate the unique sport. Whitman may also have been the first writer to consciously associate baseball with the construction of American national nature. In his later conversations, there was this record: "Baseball is our sport: the sport of the Americans." I associate it with our national character... It complements everything in this country, just as important as the Constitution and the law. ”
Mark Twain, a contemporary, had a similar assessment of the popularity and influence of baseball during the "Gilded Age" in the United States: "Baseball's symbolism is so remarkable... The sport is the outward and visible embodiment of the dynamics, thrusts, sprints and struggles of the 19th century, which were turbulent, tearing, and prosperous. In the creation of novels, he also carried out his admiration for the sport. In the 1889 crossover novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, the protagonist attempts to introduce baseball to the court of King Arthur in the sixth century, hoping to replace the jousting between knights.
Illustration of a scene in which the Knights of the Round Table play baseball in the first edition of The Connecticut Yankees at The Court of King Arthur
Baseball seems to reflect the mainstream ideology of the urbanization and industrialization of the United States since the nineteenth century, and can also reflect the values of different eras and different groups. For the American people, the public nature of baseball has long gone beyond sports itself, and has been highly conceptualized and abstracted in an almost "folk belief" way, so that it has become a "national pastime" that can take root in the cornfields of the South and thrive among the skyscrapers of New York City, and then deeply rooted in people's psychology. American writers, on the other hand, consciously associate baseball with everything in America, extending from the myth of state-building to the imagination of the old pastoral life. The reason why baseball has become a "national pastime" for Americans is precisely because the accompanying narrative tradition was first adopted and practiced by writers.
In addition, this competitive sport, which was very different from football and even cricket, was even used as an argumentative for "American exceptionalism" at that time. In the age of progressiveism, baseball was seen as a distinctive symbol of so-called "American sexuality," as was the Protestant ethic. For tens of thousands of immigrants from the "Old World," baseball has also become a unique sport that gives them what they call a "sense of American belonging."
In the eyes of successive Generations of American writers, baseball is not only a highly malleable metaphorical symbol, but also a reservoir that can be crammed into various social and cultural concepts, which can tell the sport itself from the perspective of sports fiction, or take a metaphysical way to cut into the text with baseball as the carrier, and then construct a series of literary events. Historically, early novels involving baseball were about coming-of-age fiction for teenagers, and in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a considerable number of sports journalists who covered baseball games turned to baseball-themed stories. In these coming-of-age novels, baseball players are often portrayed as heroes with the highest moral standards, engaged in high-profile sports, and growing up by winning championships or gaining experience. This narrative model, which originated in the coming-of-age novel, has been tried and tested, and it still applies today. For example, in the highly publicized baseball novel The Art of Fielding, published in 2011, author Chad Harbach tells the story of how a talented young player emerges from the shadows.
Harbach's The Art of Defense is the most critically acclaimed "baseball" novel of the last decade and is seen as a revival of the growth-themed narrative.
However, from the perspective of literary history, after the First World War, with the rise and fall of progressiveism, the protagonists of such novels increasingly became fallen into or dreamed of professional competitions, or unable to adapt to urban life, or tragic heroes who burned out their lives and faced their fate. Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea is certainly not a baseball-themed novel, but santiago, the old fisherman, begins the story by talking about the professional baseball game and one of the greatest stars in the history of the New York Yankees, Joe DiMaggio, and idolizes him. When fighting the fish, the old man linked his struggle to Di Majo's injury on the court and used it to motivate himself not to give up: "But I must have confidence, I must be worthy of the amazing Di Ma jo, even if he has bone spurs on his heels, he can do everything perfectly." ”
Di Majo, who is regarded as an idol by the old fisherman Santiago
In Time and the River, Thomas Wolfe poetically depicted people in southern towns watching the scoreboard outside the newspaper during the 1912 World Series. They imagined the wonderful scene of this game thousands of miles away by changing the numbers on the scoreboard. In another masterpiece, You Can't Go Howe Again, Wolff also portrayed the literary image of an old player whose baseball career was coming to an end. Mark Harris tells the story of how a doomed baseball player faces death in his masterpiece Bang the Drum Slowly. The critically acclaimed baseball novel, adapted into a film of the same name in 1973, was equally a success and made the lead actor Robert De Niro well known.
Movie poster for Drums Slowly
With the wave of highly industrialized modernization after World War II, the historic baseball game has been given more "idyllic" romantic imaginations. The 1952 novel The Natural, published by the Jewish writer Bernard Malamud, along with Saul Bellow and Philip Ross, was not his most critically acclaimed work, but was probably his best-selling masterpiece, which was adapted into a film of the same name in 1984. "Born To Be Good" is a very pure baseball novel, and baseball is not only the background of the story, but also the main axis of the story. The protagonist, Hobbs, is a tragic character with amazing baseball talent who falls into a trough in his life after being caught up in an unexpected shooting and then tries to cheer himself up. Malamoed wasn't content with just writing a baseball novel, which involved themes far beyond sports itself, and the author even incorporated the legend of "The Legend of King Arthur"—giving the protagonist a magical bat comparable to the "Sword of Kings" (Excalibur). In this narrative of reality and mythology, baseball, which was inherited from the pre-industrial era, seems to be the most suitable story carrier.
The cover of the first edition of Born To Be Good
Since Marmaud, there have been more and more examples of this romantic and even magical narrative mode combined with baseball to the point where it is seen as a "creative tradition." Another well-known example of such a tradition is W. Kinsela. P. Kinsella's Shoeless Joe. The protagonist of this wonderful novel is a middle-aged farmer who grows corn in Iowa, who is obsessed with the legendary experience of the early mlbucks star "Barefoot Joe" and deeply deplores the death of his sporting life due to suspected gambling. Suddenly, one day, he heard a voice echoing in his ears, begging him to build a baseball field on his farm, so that his hero "Joe Barefoot" could get a chance to return to the court. Later, in order to find a way to "atone" for "Barefoot Joe", the protagonist crossed the United States to find salingel in seclusion. In 1989, the novel was adapted into the film Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner, a hit, and became one of the most popular sports films in American film history. However, because Salinger firmly disagreed with the appearance of a character based on him in the film and threatened legal action, the character of "Salinger" in the film was changed to a black writer. Given the film's popularity, major league baseball (MLB) invested in a retro stadium on a farm in Dyersville, Iowa, where the film was filmed, and held a commemorative game with professional players.
Cover of the novel "Joe Barefoot"
Movie poster for Land of Dreams
On August 12, 2021, a retro stadium was invested in the construction of a retro stadium and a commemorative competition was held on the farm where the film was filmed
Another important writer who romanticized baseball was the famous Philip Ross. In 1973, he wrote in a newspaper: "Through baseball, I began to understand and appreciate the gentle and human side of patriotism without tainting the fanaticism of saints, which was a spiritual outpouring, not a material catharsis... This movement is like a secular church, reaching out to every class and region of the country, connecting us and making us all care, loyalty, respect, enthusiasm and confrontation with each other. For Rose, baseball represented idealism and the innocent imagination of his childhood. Baseball has also been repeatedly used as a "microcosm of America" in Rose's fiction. In "American Pastoral", the protagonist of the novel is a young baseball first baseman who grows up lost and even sinks. In The Great American Novel, a ridiculous and satirical alternative work, Ross fictionalizes a baseball league and a baseball team that is forever wandering, and grafts the fictional history of this novel with the historical context of McCarthyism. The reason why Ross gave baseball so many positive and romantic descriptions may be precisely to reflect the uncertainty of postwar American society and culture. In other words, By emphasizing the importance of baseball's national narrative in the United States, Ross in turn questions the legitimacy of that narrative itself.
Cover of A Great American Novel
Philip Rose, who was playing baseball as a child
For more than a hundred years since the first officially recorded game of baseball in 1846, baseball has been seen as a special entrance to experience the cultural resonance of American society. In terms of the commercial market for professional sports, American football has now replaced baseball and taken the top spot, but compared to the baseball literary tradition that has lasted since the nineteenth century, American football has rarely become an object of literature. The reason for this phenomenon may be directly related to the characteristics of these two movements. The difference between the two sports, the late famous comedian George Carlin once had a very vivid comment: "Baseball is the pastoral sport of the 19th century, and rugby is the technical confrontation of the 20th century." The attributes of the so-called "pastoral sport" can also be seen from the rules of baseball, such as: baseball games have no strict time limits, only the number of exits; the distance of the field in different baseball fields is different; most of the seasons change with the seasons; and the near-turn attack and defense rotation is like a chess match. Moreover, like all works of literature, baseball can be an inspirational pastime for all ages, as well as dark and sad; it can sometimes be dramatic and impactful, sometimes slow and boring; it has moments of glory, but it always implies resentment. For most Americans, perhaps as Whitman puts it, the sport always moves you in one form or another.
The famous quote of jacques Bazin, a cultural historian, inscribed on the wall of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, "Anyone who wants to understand the American psyche and mind has better know baseball." For Americans, the cultural significance of baseball is indeed a kind of "nostalgia." Baseball may no longer be the most lucrative and eye-catching sport, but it remains an integral part of the long-standing collective memory of American society today.
After all, baseball is a "home run" sport.