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Monday Feature Jerome Charyn author Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil

About Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil by Jerome Charyn As the New York Yankees' star centerfielder from 1936 to 1951, Joe DiMaggio is enshrined in America's memory as the epitome in sports of grace, dignity, and that ineffable quality called "class." But his career after retirement, starting with his nine-month marriage to Marilyn Monroe, was far less auspicious. Writers like Gay Talese and Richard Ben Cramer have painted the private DiMaggio as cruel or self-centered. Now, Jerome Charyn restores the image of this American icon, looking at DiMaggio's life in a more sympathetic light. DiMaggio was a man of extremes, superbly talented on the field but privately insecure, passive, and dysfunctional. He never understood that for Monroe, on her own complex and tragic journey, marriage was a career move; he remained passionately committed to her throughout his life. He allowed himself to be turned into a sports memorabilia money machine. In the end, unable to define any role for himself other than "Greatest Living Ballplayer," he became trapped in "a horrible kind of minutia." But where others have seen little that was human behind that minutia, Charyn in Joe DiMaggio presents the tragedy of one of American sports' greatest figures.



About Jerome Charyn Jerome Charyn is the author of Johnny One-Eye, The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson, and The Seventh Babe, a novel about a white third baseman on the Red Sox who also played in the Negro Leagues. He divides his time between New York and Paris.

Blog Tour web site: http://joe-dimaggio-the-long-vigil.blogspot.com

Jerome Charyn's web site: http://www.jeromecharyn.com/

Jerome Charyn's Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/jerome.charyn

Jerome Charyn's Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeromecharyn


Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Joe-DiMaggio-The-Long-Vigil/173247736020293


Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil Twitter: http://twitter.com/JoeDiMaggio2011


Yale University Press web site: http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300123289


Jerome Charyn's Bio: Jerome Charyn (born May 13, 1937) is an award-winning American author. With nearly 50 published works, Charyn has earned a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life. Michael Chabon calls him “one of the most important writers in American literature.” New York Newsday hailed Charyn as “a contemporary American Balzac,” and the Los Angeles Times described him as “absolutely unique among American writers.” Since the 1964 release of Charyn’s first novel, Once Upon a Droshky, he has published 30 novels, three memoirs, eight graphic novels, two books about film, short stories, plays and works of non-fiction. Two of his memoirs were named New York Times Book of the Year. Charyn has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been named Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture. Charyn was Distinguished Professor of Film Studies at the American University of Paris until he left teaching in 2009. In addition to his writing and teaching, Charyn is a tournament table tennis player, once ranked in the top 10 percent of players in France. Noted novelist Don DeLillo called Charyn’s book on table tennis, Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins, "The Sun Also Rises of ping-pong." Charyn lives in Paris and New York City.


Hardcover Price: $24.00 ISBN: 9780300123289 Pages: 192 Release: March 8, 2011 Buy links: Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Joe-DiMaggio-Vigil-Icons-America/dp/0300123280/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301884774&sr=1-1


Barnes & Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Joe-DiMaggio/Jerome-Charyn/e/9780300172669/?itm=1&USRI=joe+dimaggio+the+long+vigil


Watch the book trailer at you tube;

Comments

  1. Thanks Rebecca for featuring Jerome's look at Joe DiMaggio on your blog. We appreciate your support of the book.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like a very interesting book. I'll definitely check it out. Joe DiMaggio has always interested me for some reason. Always seemed like an interesting fellow.

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  3. Thanks for all who have stopped by and left comments today at Writing Daze.

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  4. I just finished reading this book. I loved it!

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  5. This sounds like a book my husband, a huge Yankee fan, will love.

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