As the Valley Baseball League has now conluded, it seems most appropriate to review, at this time, one of the great literary works featuring the game of baseball: W. P. Kinsella's Shoeless Joe (1982). The movie version of this novel, Field of Dreams, is better known to most people but as with most movies based on books,the book is better. That's saying something in this case because Field of Dreams was an excellent movie and certainly did justice to the spirit of Kinsella's work.
There are some definite differences between the two media. In the book, Ray Kinsella kidnaps and then befriends actual author J. D. Salinger. W. P. Kinsella and Salinger are long-time friends. Also, in the novel, Ray has a twin brother, Richard, a character who further symbolizes one of the main themes of the novel which is the connection that we all share with one another. For me, the most striking omission from the movie is the character of Eddie Scissions, an old man who lives near Ray and claims to be the oldest living Chicago Cub. He is not,as a simple check of the Baseball Encyclopedia reveals, but no one robs the old man of his pretense. Finally, Scissions is allowed to take the field with the "ghost" players as a pitcher. Despite getting shelled, he earns the respect of the players and the final scene in which he appears is worth the entire read in and of itself. Indeed, an entire chapter is devoted to Scissions' character and none of this material shows up in the film.
Field of Dreams certainly illustrates themes of redemption, salvation, and faith, but these themes are more definite and striking in Shoeless Joe. Indeed, Shoeless Joe is a religious novel, whose plot happens to involve--deeply--baseball. I taught this novel years ago and had my students record all the religious references and biblical illusions that they found. Most came up with 70 or so, from a paperback novel 224 pages long. Baseball is after all, a game of faith as has been detailed in this blog before.
I heartily recommend Shoeless Joe, but fans may want to wait until the fall or winter to read it. Shoeless Joe will bring back the summer and all its magic and you'll find yourself staring out your window thinking to yourself, "If I just believe hard enough . . ."
I love the Scissions character but I am assuming that with time constraints in the movie, they wanted to focus on one old guy (Moonlight Graham) instead of two. I am impressed that your students were able to come up with 70 religious references. If you read it in the winter read it closer to the start of the season because it makes you want the season here so much more.
Posted by: Becky | August 18, 2009 at 12:55 AM