Today we finished reading the first section of Bernard Malamud’s “The Natural”. This first section is called “Pre-game”. It ends with a shocking event: Roy Hobbs is shot by a mad girl in a Chicago hotel, before he even has a chance to try out for a baseball team!
What we discussed today:
- the story of Perceval and the Holy Grail (see the previous blog entry)
- the vegetative deity or the Green Man myth
- the Biblical story of David and Goliath
- Chiyonofuji and the end of his career (this is the same story of any fighter or warrior who grows old)
- why does Harriet Bird shoot Roy???!?
Comparative study or finding similarities is interesting between the story of The Natural and of The Fisher King. Look forward to the next session.
Nice name! Is Pyracantha a type of fish? (Coelocanth) Or maybe a flower (hyacinth)? Ah, within 5 seconds (the time it takes to type “Pyracantha” into Google search) I have the answer. Amazing!