Haunts Of The Black Masseur
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Haunts of the Black Masseur - The Swimmer as Hero for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Part social and cultural history, and part personal credo, "Haunts of the Black Masseur" is an exhilarating plunge into some of the deepest pools inside our heads." - J.G. Ballard
"This splendid and wholly original book is as zestful as a plunge in champagne." - Iris Murdoch
"A wholly original idea...a brilliant translation of a singular passion." - Alan Ross, "TLS"
"This splendid and wholly original book is as zestful as a plunge in champagne." - Iris Murdoch
"A wholly original idea...a brilliant translation of a singular passion." - Alan Ross, "TLS"
Product Description
Charles Sprawson - himself an obsessional swimmer and diver - explores the meaning that different cultures have attached to water. He gives the reader glimpses of the great swimming heroes: Byron leaping dramatically into the surf at Shelley's beach funeral; Hart Crane, swallow-diving to his death in the Bay of Mexico; Ulysses, Leander, Weismuller, Spitz and a host of others.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Sprawson's book has deservedly become a classic. He takes us on a watery journey through the history and culture of swimming. The book helps us to historicize our attitude to swimming: we see how a love for swimming has emerged in particular places and at particular times. A lot of fascinating information emerges: the history, for instance, of the different strokes, and of the swallow dive. However, one of the great strengths of the book is the way the book is personal enough for Sprawson's own love for swimming to animate it. If you love swimming and are interested in culture, read this book. It will have you dashing off to your local pool and then running straight to your library, before you are even dry, to chase up some of the recommendations in the literature of swimming that the author makes.
Format:Paperback
I am writing this review well over 12 months since I read it. A recent tv programme inspired by 'Waterlog' made me recall this book. I realise that this book's ability to provide an insight to the history of its subject is something that has not been easily forgotten by me. I am sure very many people, who like me, started to read it without expectation found once started it was rather difficult to stop. Intriguingly it also involved reading very many pages before you found out the reason for the book's title! Well writen and not presumptious nor pretentious. It is what many a book should be - an unexpected joy.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Charles Sprawson is, apparently, an obsessive swimmer who (like Byron) once swam the Hellespont and this is a very engaging study of swimming, and swimming heroes, in different cultures. From the English/classical/public school tradition, imbued with the glory that was Greece and Rome and more than a dollop of homo-eroticism, through German Romanticism to - and this is the section I enjoyed most - swimming and the American dream. From Eakins' Arcadian swimming hole to Scott Fitzgerald's Gatsby and Dick Diver, Johnny Weissmuller, John Cheever's Swimmer, and Hockney's shimmering Californian pools.
One slightly annoying flaw, however, is the author's habit of citing notable swimmers by their surnames only - even at first reference - and often without even the briefest explanation of who they are. Several times I found myself asking, 'Who he?' Surely an editor should have picked up on this? It sometimes felt like he was talking about a coterie of old schoolfriends to whom I hadn't been introduced.
One slightly annoying flaw, however, is the author's habit of citing notable swimmers by their surnames only - even at first reference - and often without even the briefest explanation of who they are. Several times I found myself asking, 'Who he?' Surely an editor should have picked up on this? It sometimes felt like he was talking about a coterie of old schoolfriends to whom I hadn't been introduced.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
