Bang the Drum Slowly
Encyclopedia
Bang the Drum Slowly is a novel by Mark Harris
, a sequel to The Southpaw
(1953). It was first published in 1956, and was later made into a 1956 U.S. Steel Hour television adaptation starring Paul Newman and a later film adaptation
in 1973.
Harris's narrator Henry "Author" Wiggen, a star pitcher, tells the story of a baseball season with the New York Mammoths (a fictional team based on the New York Yankees
) -- a season notable for the team's success but blighted by the Hodgkin's Disease of catcher Bruce Pearson. Wiggen tries to be supportive of Pearson while concealing his illness.
The title comes from the song The Streets of Laredo
, sung by one of the ballplayers (Piney Woods, a back-up catcher recently recalled from the minors) at a team gathering. The version of the song that he sings contains the lyrics, "O bang the drum slowly, and play the fife lowly...."
The novel is written in the vernacular, with idiosyncratic awkward writing by the "author" that Harris has "employed," pitcher Henry Wiggen.
The last line of the novel, "From here on in I rag nobody" was ranked #95 on American Book Review's "100 Best Last Lines from Novels" in 2008. http://americanbookreview.org/PDF/100_Best_Last_Lines_from_Novels.pdf
Mark Harris (author)
Mark Harris was an American novelist, literary biographer, and educator.-Early life:Harris was born Mark Harris Finklestein in Mount Vernon, New York to Carlyle and Ruth Klausner Finkelstein...
, a sequel to The Southpaw
The Southpaw
The Southpaw was the first of the Henry Wiggen baseball novels by Mark Harris, published in 1953. Wiggen, star pitcher and narrator of the novel, tells of his early years in baseball and his debut with the New York Mammoths. It was followed by Bang the Drum Slowly ....
(1953). It was first published in 1956, and was later made into a 1956 U.S. Steel Hour television adaptation starring Paul Newman and a later film adaptation
Bang the Drum Slowly (film)
Bang the Drum Slowly is a 1973 film adaptation of the 1956 baseball novel of the same name by Mark Harris. It was previously dramatized in 1956 on the U.S. Steel Hour with Paul Newman and Albert Salmi....
in 1973.
Harris's narrator Henry "Author" Wiggen, a star pitcher, tells the story of a baseball season with the New York Mammoths (a fictional team based on the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
) -- a season notable for the team's success but blighted by the Hodgkin's Disease of catcher Bruce Pearson. Wiggen tries to be supportive of Pearson while concealing his illness.
The title comes from the song The Streets of Laredo
Streets of Laredo (song)
"Streets of Laredo" , also known as the "Cowboy's Lament", is a famous American cowboy ballad in which a dying cowboy tells his story to a living one. Derived from the English folk song "The Unfortunate Lad", it has become a folk music standard, and as such has been performed, recorded and adapted...
, sung by one of the ballplayers (Piney Woods, a back-up catcher recently recalled from the minors) at a team gathering. The version of the song that he sings contains the lyrics, "O bang the drum slowly, and play the fife lowly...."
The novel is written in the vernacular, with idiosyncratic awkward writing by the "author" that Harris has "employed," pitcher Henry Wiggen.
The last line of the novel, "From here on in I rag nobody" was ranked #95 on American Book Review's "100 Best Last Lines from Novels" in 2008. http://americanbookreview.org/PDF/100_Best_Last_Lines_from_Novels.pdf