1. Sports|ethics|literature 10.21.2016
The Universal Baseball Association, J. Henry Waugh, Prop. * Robert Coover *
Sports|ethics|literature

2. Robert Coover Born 1932 in Iowa
BA in Slavic Studies from Indiana in 1953
Joined the Navy
MA in General Studies in the Humanities, Chicago, 1965
Refused to pay taxes in protest of the Vietnam War
First book, The Origin of the Brunists, is about the forming of a religious cult in a small town beset by a mining accident
Universal Baseball Association (1968)
The Public Burning (1977) on the Rosenberg Trial told largely from the perspective of Richard Nixon
Professor Emeritus at Brown University

3. Coover’s Writing Style

4. Why write metafiction?
In calling attention to the process of writing or authoring through fiction, as an audience we become aware of the fact that we are always authoring or writing our own lives.
The world of sports, in particular, is full of this storytelling. We give sports meaning through storytelling—through narrative.
There is a sense of power in becoming the author of our own narratives.
Coover also points to the absurdity of obsessive fandom.
But this first chapter is also lovably rich in excitement and energy.

5. Some highlights of Ch. 1, UBA
15: “The dice rattled in Henry’s fist…”
The first moment we realize what he’s actually up to—this isn’t going home and listening on the radio or watching on TV, but something entirely of his own creation.
Look at how seamlessly Coover transitions from “the real world” to Henry’s “imagined world”
19: “…nothing like it, electrifying, new, a new thing…”
How often does a 56-year-old man get to experience something wholly new? Especially one like him…?

6. Some highlights of Ch. 1, UBA
31: “utterly unsurpassable perfection”
Remember that DFW says we are drawn to sports and top athletes because we want to know what it feels to be “both beautiful and best.” Brock has just thrown a perfect game.
29: slipping seamlessly between bartender Pete (RL) and Jake (UBA)
Where do the characters in our imagined narratives come from?
Have you ever imagined yourself as someone else, someone more confident, more at ease, more successful, conversing more easily?