Louisa Thomas

I actually was teaching this piece by John Updike about Ted Williams to a nonfiction creative writing class that I teach at Harvard. And this is one of those pieces that I refer to sometimes when I need to enter the right voice. when I sort of need to remember how to start, when I need to sort of get in the mood. This piece is so good at mood, so good at beginnings.

I actually was teaching this piece by John Updike about Ted Williams to a nonfiction creative writing class that I teach at Harvard. And this is one of those pieces that I refer to sometimes when I need to enter the right voice. when I sort of need to remember how to start, when I need to sort of get in the mood. This piece is so good at mood, so good at beginnings.

I actually was teaching this piece by John Updike about Ted Williams to a nonfiction creative writing class that I teach at Harvard. And this is one of those pieces that I refer to sometimes when I need to enter the right voice. when I sort of need to remember how to start, when I need to sort of get in the mood. This piece is so good at mood, so good at beginnings.

I love that opening line.

I love that opening line.

I love that opening line.

What I know about the genesis of the story is what he told us. In 1977, he published a reprint of this in a slender little volume, and he wrote an introduction. And he said in the introduction that his plan had been to go visit a paramour on Beacon Hill. He was married, but his marriage was dissolving. And he knocked on the door, and his paramour was not there.

What I know about the genesis of the story is what he told us. In 1977, he published a reprint of this in a slender little volume, and he wrote an introduction. And he said in the introduction that his plan had been to go visit a paramour on Beacon Hill. He was married, but his marriage was dissolving. And he knocked on the door, and his paramour was not there.

What I know about the genesis of the story is what he told us. In 1977, he published a reprint of this in a slender little volume, and he wrote an introduction. And he said in the introduction that his plan had been to go visit a paramour on Beacon Hill. He was married, but his marriage was dissolving. And he knocked on the door, and his paramour was not there.

So he went to the game instead, to Fenway Park, to watch Ted Williams play in his last game. And he was so moved by what he saw that he felt compelled to write about it.

So he went to the game instead, to Fenway Park, to watch Ted Williams play in his last game. And he was so moved by what he saw that he felt compelled to write about it.

So he went to the game instead, to Fenway Park, to watch Ted Williams play in his last game. And he was so moved by what he saw that he felt compelled to write about it.

Ted Williams was this boyhood hero. Sometimes, you know, we can go back and find all the great reasons that Updake loved him. But I think some of them were, you know, born out of a child's imagination. There's a lovely passage, actually, in the piece that he wrote about how Ted Williams was originally always this line in a box score.

Ted Williams was this boyhood hero. Sometimes, you know, we can go back and find all the great reasons that Updake loved him. But I think some of them were, you know, born out of a child's imagination. There's a lovely passage, actually, in the piece that he wrote about how Ted Williams was originally always this line in a box score.

Ted Williams was this boyhood hero. Sometimes, you know, we can go back and find all the great reasons that Updake loved him. But I think some of them were, you know, born out of a child's imagination. There's a lovely passage, actually, in the piece that he wrote about how Ted Williams was originally always this line in a box score.

He felt a sort of sympathy with him because Updike was this great practitioner of his craft, as Williams was. And they both cared tremendously about these details. And there was something so pure about the way they took their swings.

He felt a sort of sympathy with him because Updike was this great practitioner of his craft, as Williams was. And they both cared tremendously about these details. And there was something so pure about the way they took their swings.

He felt a sort of sympathy with him because Updike was this great practitioner of his craft, as Williams was. And they both cared tremendously about these details. And there was something so pure about the way they took their swings.

I had the chance, actually, the other day to go back and look at his draft. And there's this passage, and it's one of the passages that Updike actually worked over most, both in the original process of writing it with the typewriter. You can see all these Xs out, and also with his pencil after. He's really...

I had the chance, actually, the other day to go back and look at his draft. And there's this passage, and it's one of the passages that Updike actually worked over most, both in the original process of writing it with the typewriter. You can see all these Xs out, and also with his pencil after. He's really...