Loss
China | ‘Penalty Phase,’ by Gay Talese (chapter 43)
Gay Talese refers to the setting at the Women’s World Cup final on 10 Jul 99—the tableau of winning penalty-kick taker Brandi Chastain mobbed by teammates in a swirl of confetti and California sun—as a “stadium sky jet-streamed with jingoism.” But his interest was in the Chinese player who missed her penalty kick, Liu Ying. Liu’s story takes up much of Talese’s memoir, A Writer’s Life. With podcast » (Photo of Talese © Joyce Tenneson)
Ukraine | ‘The Dynamo Team,’ by Anatoly Kuznetsov (chapter 38)
Forty years ago Ukrainian writer Anatoly Kuznetsov arrived at a London newspaper office, rolls of 35mm film concealed in his jacket, and declared political asylum from the former USSR. The film contained images of the uncensored manuscript for Babi Yar and what would become, when translated, one of the first English-language accounts of Dynamo Kyiv’s deeds during World War II. (Image: Zenit Stadium on Kerosinnaya Street, Kyiv, 1942, courtesy fcdynamo.kiev.ua)
Argentina | ‘Boycotting the World Cup,’ by Hebe de Bonafini (chapter 39)
Soccer might serve “as a background for literature about absolutely anything else in the world,” says translator Sandra Kingery of the excerpt from the autobiography of Hebe de Bonafini, one of the founders of Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo of Argentina.
Author interviews »
Podcast downloads »Literary links »
Quotes on soccer »
"I am not myself very fond of watching football," said Genji. "It is a rough game. But I feel that today we all need something to wake us up ..." (Lady Murasaki, The Tale of Genji, ca. 1000 C.E.)
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Recent posts »
- China | ‘Penalty Phase,’ by Gay Talese (chapter 43)
- Ukraine | ‘The Dynamo Team,’ by Anatoly Kuznetsov (chapter 38)
- Translations | No último minuto (‘In the last minute’)
- Classroom resources | Playing a ‘cascarita’ with words
- The Writers’ League | Israeli trophy leads to ‘emptiness of the day after’
- The Writers’ League | For 3 days in Tel Aviv, football becomes more than metaphor
- Translations | How ‘newspapers’ become ‘body bags’ when translating the global game
Books on soccer »
© 2009 JZ Editing & Publishing. 
| University of Nebraska Press | Excerpt | Bibliography | Testimonials | Buy
| University of Nebraska Press | Excerpt | Bibliography | Testimonials | Buy
