{"id":144783,"date":"2020-05-04T13:01:56","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T17:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=144783"},"modified":"2020-05-04T14:40:59","modified_gmt":"2020-05-04T18:40:59","slug":"the-art-of-distance-no-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Distance No. 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March,<\/em>\u00a0The Paris Review\u00a0launched<\/em>\u00a0The Art of Distance, a newsletter highlighting unlocked archive pieces that resonate with the staff of<\/em>\u00a0the magazine<\/em>, quarantine-appropriate writing on the<\/em>\u00a0Daily, resources from our peer organizations,<\/em>\u00a0and more. Read Emily Nemens\u2019s introductory letter\u00a0here<\/a>, and find the latest unlocked archive pieces below.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThese past few weeks, even as I\u2019ve relished the extra time to read, I\u2019ve missed sports acutely. Just a few innings of baseball before bed! Oh, what I\u2019d do for the swish of a three-pointer! So, as the <\/em>Paris Review softball team\u2019s permit application is stalled at NYC Parks and Rec, as the only basketball being played is me throwing laundry into the hamper, as MLB comes up with more and stranger ideas for how to restart the stalled-out season, I went back to the archive to find some interesting moments in the magazine\u2019s sports literature. I hope it\u2019s a balm for those among us missing sports. For those who stay far from even the sidelines, I\u2019d encourage giving these pieces a shot. You\u2019ll see that literary sportswriting rarely keeps to the bounds of the baseline\u2014it is about character development as much as athletic performance, about linguistic craft as much as physical form. Let us not forget Robert Frost\u2019s outlook on poetry, from his Art of Poetry interview<\/a>: \u2018I look on the poet as a man of prowess, just like an athlete.\u2019 In that, perhaps we\u2019re all in it for sport.\u201d \u2014EN<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Paris Review<\/em> has had the good fortune to serialize a handful of novels over the past decade, among them Chris Bachelder\u2019s The Throwback Special<\/em>. A group of retired footballers meet up every November to reenact a historic play: the premise is straightforward enough, but the complexity of this group portrait will knock the breath out of you like an encounter with a very solid offensive lineman. Here are part 1<\/a> and part 2<\/a>. Subscribers can read the whole book now, or you can order a copy in our Bookshop.org store<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the opening of her essay \u201cWhat I Did Last Summer<\/a>,\u201d Betty Eppes admits, \u201cI was a pretty good tennis player\u2014fluctuating between No. 1 and No. 3 at my tennis club in Baton Rouge.\u201d Betty drops the racket for another adventure.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, The Basketball Diaries<\/em><\/a> is more about sex and drugs in sixties NYC (be forewarned, some observations have aged less than gracefully) than about basketball, but this early version of Jim Carroll\u2019s memoir does talk about pickup games, his high school\u2019s jock culture, and hitting an \u201cincredible amounts of jump shots\u201d while stoned. <\/p>\n

TPR<\/em> art editor Charlotte Strick and illustrator and writer Leanne Shapton put their fins together for this portfolio<\/a>, titled \u201cSwimming Lessons,\u201d from Summer 2016. Enjoy these poolside pictures until we can get back to the diving board.<\/p>\n

TPR<\/em>\u2019s first poetry editor, Donald Hall, was perhaps second only to George Plimpton in his sports fandom. His Art of Poetry interview<\/a> includes a brief but glorious anecdote about trying out for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I\u2019d also direct you to \u201cThe Third Inning<\/a>.\u201d It borrows its structure from our beloved nine-inning game, but reaches far beyond the diamond.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s plenty of sports in the Daily<\/em> archive, as well. I\u2019d start by pointing you to Rowan Ricardo Phillips\u2019s tennis writing<\/a>, which was a precursor to his 2018 book The Circuit: A Tennis Odyssey<\/em><\/a>, and to Leonard Gardner\u2019s look back at Fat City<\/em><\/a> from the half-century mark.<\/p>\n

\u2014EN<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sign up\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to receive a fresh installment of The Art of Distance in your inbox every Monday<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With baseball et al on pause, Emily Nemens cuts a highlight reel of the magazine\u2019s long tradition of publishing literary sportswriting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63638],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-art-of-distance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Art of Distance No. 7 by The Paris Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With baseball et al on pause, Emily Nemens cuts a highlight reel of the magazine\u2019s long tradition of publishing literary sportswriting.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Art of Distance No. 7 by The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"May 4, 2020 \u2013 With baseball et al on pause, Emily Nemens cuts a highlight reel of the magazine\u2019s long tradition of publishing literary sportswriting.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-04T17:01:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-04T18:40:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/unnamed.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"665\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e\"},\"headline\":\"The Art of Distance No. 7\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-04T17:01:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-04T18:40:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/\"},\"wordCount\":612,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/unnamed.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"The Art of Distance\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/\",\"name\":\"The Art of Distance No. 7 by The Paris Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/unnamed.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-04T17:01:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-04T18:40:59+00:00\",\"description\":\"With baseball et al on pause, Emily Nemens cuts a highlight reel of the magazine\u2019s long tradition of publishing literary sportswriting.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/unnamed.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/unnamed.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Art of Distance No. 7\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/parisreview\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Art of Distance No. 7 by The Paris Review","description":"With baseball et al on pause, Emily Nemens cuts a highlight reel of the magazine\u2019s long tradition of publishing literary sportswriting.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Art of Distance No. 7 by The Paris Review","og_description":"May 4, 2020 \u2013 With baseball et al on pause, Emily Nemens cuts a highlight reel of the magazine\u2019s long tradition of publishing literary sportswriting.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2020-05-04T17:01:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-05-04T18:40:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":665,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/unnamed.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"The Paris Review","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Paris Review","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/"},"author":{"name":"The Paris Review","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e"},"headline":"The Art of Distance No. 7","datePublished":"2020-05-04T17:01:56+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-04T18:40:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/"},"wordCount":612,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/unnamed.png","articleSection":["The Art of Distance"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/","name":"The Art of Distance No. 7 by The Paris Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/unnamed.png","datePublished":"2020-05-04T17:01:56+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-04T18:40:59+00:00","description":"With baseball et al on pause, Emily Nemens cuts a highlight reel of the magazine\u2019s long tradition of publishing literary sportswriting.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/unnamed.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/unnamed.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/04\/the-art-of-distance-no-7\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Art of Distance No. 7"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e","name":"The Paris Review","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Paris Review"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/parisreview\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144783"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144795,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144783\/revisions\/144795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}