Bang the Drum Slowly
Easton Press, 1996. Collector's Edition. Full Leather. New / No Jacket as Issued. Item #5114
A handsome dark red leather Collector's edition of this well-known baseball novel, signed by the author. Still in the publisher's original cellophane wrap. In Very Fine+ condition. With gold gilt cover designs and page edges, moire silk endpapers and bound-in silk bookmark. Includes a Publisher's Note and Certificate of Authenticity from Easton Press that Harris signed in 2003.
Originally published in 1956, this novel tells the story of Henry Wiggen, pitching ace, and his befriending of a young catcher, Bruce Pearson, who has Hodgkin's Disease. Wiggen rallies the team to keep Pearson rather than replace him with an up and coming hot-shot and the two lead the team to the World Series.
The title was inspired by the American cowboy ballad "Streets of Laredo" where a dying wrangler laments about his life ("Oh, bang the drum slowly and play the fife lowly/And play the death march as you carry me along..."). Two films were based on the novel; the first staring a young Paul Newman in 1956 and a remake in 1973 staring a fresh-faced Robert De Niro. Harris insisted on sticking to Wiggen's vernacular, even in the face of criticism and calls for edits, stating that the book was an act of rebellion against the status quo.
The director of the 70's remake, John Hancock, stated in an interview with James Childs in Film Literature Quarterly (1975) that the novel's theme of catharsis inspired him: "What excited me about 'Drum' was the rich texture that permitted the alternation of sadness and laughter...an alternation of rhythm, a bittersweet quality, so that when it begins to get sad you laugh. I tried to use baseball as a lament following a laugh...".
The Denver Post called Harris "one of that legion of under-the-radar writers who for decades consistently turned out excellent novels and went largely unsung as he did."
Price: $225.00 other currencies