Writers on Boxing

Reading List

  • #122: ‘Rodney Stone’ by Arthur Conan Doyle

    #122: ‘Rodney Stone’ by Arthur Conan Doyle

    What an odd book! Amongst a lot of research about stagecoach driving and naval procedure there’s an interesting story about a fictional prizefight folded into Arthur Conan Doyle’s Rodney Stone. I think I need to declare early on that this novel represents and echoes aspects of late-Victorian/early-Edwardian literature which have always annoyed me. Most notably… Read more

  • #121: ‘The Two Philosophers’ by Irvine Welsh

    #121: ‘The Two Philosophers’ by Irvine Welsh

    As mentioned in my previous post about a short fight scene in The Odyssey, I’ve been wondering for a while whether or not to include Irvine Welsh’s short story, ‘The Two Philosophers’, from his short story collection The Acid House. Rereading it today I realised why it came to mind reading Emily Wilson’s translation of… Read more

  • #120: ‘The Odyssey’ by Homer – translated by Emily Wilson

    #120: ‘The Odyssey’ by Homer – translated by Emily Wilson

    I’ve been meaning to read Emily Wilson‘s translation of The Odyssey for a few years now. (I’ve been trying to work this one out but this is at least the third translation I’ve read of The Odyssey, as well as possibly some abridged or age appropriate versions when I was a child.) I decided that… Read more

  • #119: ‘The Boxing Diaries’ by Marion Dunn.

    #119: ‘The Boxing Diaries’ by Marion Dunn.

    The Boxing Diaries, published by Saraband, documents Marion Dunn’s later-life love affair with boxing training. Following Dunn’s first boxing training session at the age of fifty we follow the author through a few years of physical and emotional ups and downs, in and out of the gym. We are quickly presented with a very familiar… Read more

  • #118: ‘Body and Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer’ by Loïc Wacquant

    #118: ‘Body and Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer’ by Loïc Wacquant

    Body and Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer, published by Oxford University Press, is Loïc Wacquant’s personal and professional account of his time spent at the Woodlawn boxing gym in Chicago’s south side. So… I think it’s taken me nearly a year to finish this book! It’s been a bit of a battle of perseverance… Read more

  • #117: ‘The Prizefighters’ by Arlene Schulman

    #117: ‘The Prizefighters’ by Arlene Schulman

    ‘The Prizefighters’ is comprised of selected interviews carried out by, and photographs taken by, photojournalist Arlene Schulman, edited together into a sort of retrospective of a career covering the sport of boxing. The photographs (definitely the strongest aspect of the book) are really special and a treat for someone who has read so many boxing… Read more