SPORT AS A CULTURAL HERO-SYSTEM - WHAT PRICE GLORY

This paper addresses the fundamental question: What price is society p repared to pay for the fictional fabrication of the cultural hero-syst em of sport? Based on a critical analysis of selected literary works b y John Updike, Irwin Shaw, and Jason Miller, this paper argues that th e existential crises from which character emerges in these accounts re veal the cultural hero-system of sport to be regressive. In particular , this paper argues that sport offers a world of social, moral, and em otional simplicity, a world focused on the themes of youth, and that a s a cultural hero-system sport can, at worst, infantilize those who se ek to derive sense and meaning from it.