The goalie as tragic, existential figure — a cliché. Literature from Nabokov to Camus, from Handke to Evelyn Waugh teaches us instead that keepers are seekers, constantly making choices, committing to gambles, wrestling with demons and conflicts, “polyvalent figures” who stand in liminal space, “at the threshold between two realities, goal or no goal, desolation or new life.” Like Dante’s journey from hell to paradise, the goalie stands apart but strives to transcend that isolation — to her teammates, her culture, even the divine. (John Turnbull/The Global Game)
(Image: Alan Knight, Portsmouth goalkeeper, depicted in graffiti at Fratton Park. Image credit: Ben Sutherland/Flickr through a Creative Commons license.)
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john turnbull’s piece to which you link is first rate indeed.
since translating Handke’s GOALIE I’ve become a Handke specialist during the past 20 years and have written and collected mounds of material about him:since handke is on your list – i would say there are nearly a dozen of his books and plays that are essential – here the portals to a lot of material of his and about him on the web:
http://handke-magazin.blogspot.com/
the new HUB to all Handke-blogs
and all
http://www.handke.scriptmania.com/
sites….
http://www.facebook.com/mike.roloff1?ref=name