Granta 45 by Bill Buford
Four years ago, Paul Gascoigne was an athlete of promise, but not a lot more. He had his distinctive features: he was gifted and entertaining and a bit goofy - one of the lads. But, apart from a few million English males, who knew about him really? After the summer of 1990, that hot, sticky summer when England lost to Germany in the World Cup, Paul Gascoigne was no longer Paul Gascoigne. The blubbery, wet, wrinkled face witnessed on the television sets of most of the world's population had changed that. He was Gazza now, as famous as the famous can ever become. What would it be like to be Gazza? What are the pressures? How do you cope with possessing 'this gift' - this ability to perform so exceptionally in an athletic contest (but one that you know will peak and then disintegrate)? Ian Hamilton is a poet and biographer. He is also a Tottenham Hotspur supporter - and a Gazza fan. And this is a fan's account: of a player's life and of the fan's obsession, of a sport celebrity and of our apparent need to have one. It is the story of Gazza: at play, on show, in the press, in pain, in distress - of Gazza, more sinned against than sinning, agonistes.
Bill Buford is a Staff Writer and European Correspondent for The New Yorker. He was the Fiction Editor of the magazine for eight years, from April 1995 to December 2002. Before that he edited Granta magazine for sixteen years and, in 1989, became the publisher of Granta Books. He has edited three anthologies: The Best of Granta Travel, The Best of Granta Reportage, and The Granta Book of the Family. Bill is also the author of Among the Thugs (Norton, 1992), a highly personal nonfiction account of crowd violence and British soccer hooliganism. For The New Yorker, he has written about sweatshops, the singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, and chef Mario Batali. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1954, Bill Buford grew up in California and was educated at the University of California at Berkeley and at Kings College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a Marshall Scholarship for his work on Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. He lives in New York City with his wife, Jessica Green, and their two sons.
| SKU | GOR005328948 |
| ISBN 13 | 9780140140644 |
| ISBN 10 | 0140140646 |
| Title | Granta 45 |
| Author | Bill Buford |
| Condition | Very Good |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Granta Books |
| Year published | 2008-01-07 |
| Number of pages | 252 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us |
