“For the quick play of cunning hands…”
-Quintas Smyneaus, the Siege of Troy, circa A.D. 400
…
Dear Mrs. Lockhart is editing and arranging The Broken Dance as an omnimbus coffee table size hardback history book. It will Contain:
-The First Boxers
-The Gods of Boxing
-All Power Fighting
It will not contain The Boxer Dread, which, due to my eye condition, the loss of the library I was working from and the dispersal of the two remaining 5 inch thick binders of notes and illustrations, cannot be completed. This, The Broken Dance ends on the eve of Mid Antiquity, with the death of Alexander in 323 B.C.
This made The Lady cry over the phone.
So a compromise will be done.
The binders are somewhere for perhaps eventual use by some other. I recall most of the material as I never wrote the work, which is one way I forget non-fiction subject matter.
In addition to the original three volumes, will be The Boxer Dread, an Epilogue. The only illustration for this is the match from 212 B.C. between Klietomachus [whose home I have forgotten, but I think is Thebes, though this makes little sense in that Alexander wiped out Thebes around 335] and Aristonicus of Egypt by Joseph Bellofatto.
In Of Lions and Men is the Poem, the Strongest Man of Hand, which stands as near the entirety of boxing from Feudal Europe. There is also the story of Euthymus, from Masculine Axis that should be included.
I have agreed to do a series of Substack podcasts with Lynn, so that she might use those transcripts to render the following chapters in The Boxer Dread, with a guestimated recording time below:
-1. Parasite, Professional and Philosopher
Boxing, Wrestling and Pankration from Alexander to Augustus
1 hour
-2. Sacred Synod of Heracles
Boxing, Wrestling and Pankration Under Rome from Paul to Justinian
1 hour
-3. The Strongest Man of Hand
Boxing’s Death and Reanimation from Attila to Leonardo
20 minutes
-4. Cock of the Walk
The Rise of Boxing in English Honor Culture from James Figg to Jem Mace
1 hour
-5. Clebrity
The Dominance of Boxing in American Masculine Culture from Bill Richmond to Edgar Rice Burroughs
1 hour
-6. The Essence of Boxing
An Afterward on the Nature and Future of Boxing
20 minutes
…
I intend to begin each discussion with a recollection of primary sources.
Thank you, Lynn. On considering our recent discussion I was surprised how much of the material I can recall from this stillborn book and think it should be shared before it fades into unsalavagable recess.
