John Bale is professor emeritus of Sports Studies at Keele University, UK, and an honorary professor at Queensland University, Australia, and De Montfort University, UK.

"There are many things to admire in this book. The opening chapter, for example, provides one of the best summaries of sport and literature I have read in a long time. Bale's close readings of his chosen texts are both sensitive and intelligent, bringing out many new perspectives on the writers. His defence of his subject - the oppositional literature of sport and body culture - is vigorous and persuasive, and set within a wealth of references. ""...this is a fascinating book. It has something of the 'showstopper' quality about it."Jeffrey Hill, De Montfort University

• 1. Introduction 2. Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson 3. Charles Hamilton Sorley 4. Jerome K. Jerome 5. John Betjeman 6. Alan Sillitoe 7. Philip Roth 8. Concluding Comments

John Bale is professor emeritus of Sports Studies at Keele University, UK, and an honorary professor at Queensland University, Australia, and De Montfort University, UK.

"There are many things to admire in this book. The opening chapter, for example, provides one of the best summaries of sport and literature I have read in a long time. Bale's close readings of his chosen texts are both sensitive and intelligent, bringing out many new perspectives on the writers. His defence of his subject - the oppositional literature of sport and body culture - is vigorous and persuasive, and set within a wealth of references. ""...this is a fascinating book. It has something of the 'showstopper' quality about it."Jeffrey Hill, De Montfort University

• 1. Introduction 2. Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson 3. Charles Hamilton Sorley 4. Jerome K. Jerome 5. John Betjeman 6. Alan Sillitoe 7. Philip Roth 8. Concluding Comments

John Bale is professor emeritus of Sports Studies at Keele University, UK, and an honorary professor at Queensland University, Australia, and De Montfort University, UK.

"There are many things to admire in this book. The opening chapter, for example, provides one of the best summaries of sport and literature I have read in a long time. Bale's close readings of his chosen texts are both sensitive and intelligent, bringing out many new perspectives on the writers. His defence of his subject - the oppositional literature of sport and body culture - is vigorous and persuasive, and set within a wealth of references. ""...this is a fascinating book. It has something of the 'showstopper' quality about it."Jeffrey Hill, De Montfort University

• 1. Introduction 2. Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson 3. Charles Hamilton Sorley 4. Jerome K. Jerome 5. John Betjeman 6. Alan Sillitoe 7. Philip Roth 8. Concluding Comments