Joe Dimaggio : The Long Vigil

by Jerome Charyn

• ISBN13: 9780300123289
• ISBN10: 0300123280
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2011-03-08
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

As the New York Yankees' star centerfielder from 1936 to 1951, Joe DiMaggio is enshrined in America's memory as the epitome in sports of grace, dignity, and that ineffable quality called "class." But his career after retirement, starting with his nine-month marriage to Marilyn Monroe, was far less auspicious. Writers like Gay Talese and Richard Ben Cramer have painted the private DiMaggio as cruel or self-centered. Now, Jerome Charyn restores the image of this American icon, looking at DiMaggio's life in a more sympathetic light. DiMaggio was a man of extremes, superbly talented on the field but privately insecure, passive, and dysfunctional. He never understood that for Monroe, on her own complex and tragic journey, marriage was a career move; he remained passionately committed to her throughout his life. He allowed himself to be turned into a sports memorabilia money machine. In the end, unable to define any role for himself other than "Greatest Living Ballplayer," he became trapped in "a horrible kind of minutia." But where others have seen little that was human behind that minutia, Charyn inJoe DiMaggiopresents the tragedy of one of American sports' greatest figures.

Author Biography

Jerome Charyn is the author of Johnny One-Eye, The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson, and The Seventh Babe, a novel about a white third baseman on the Red Sox who also played in the Negro Leagues. He divides his time between New York and Paris.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Chronology	p. xiii
Prologue: Pinocchio in Pinstripes	p. 1
The Player
ôOur National Exaggerationö	p. 17
The Walloping Wop	p. 25
Joltin' Joe and the Ghost of Lou Gehrig	p. 39
ôC'mon, Joe, Talk to Meö	p. 45
The Wounded Warrior	p. 59
The Demon Lover
The Princess of Yankee Stadium	p. 73
Mr. Marilyn Monroe	p. 85
ôBigger Than the Statue of Libertyö	p. 95
The Greatest Living Ballplayer	p. 113
The Biggest Fan of Them All	p. 119
Finale: An Outfielder's Sky	p. 129
Notes	p. 147
Selected Bibliography	p. 155
Index	p. 161
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