You Know Me Al (Prairie State Books) - Softcover

Lardner, Ring

3.8

891 ratings by Goodreads

9780252062308: You Know Me Al (Prairie State Books)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0252062302 ISBN 13: 9780252062308

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 1992

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The publication of You Know Me Al brought instant fame to Ring
Lardner (1885-1933), one of the great American humorists of this century.
Considered the satirist's greatest work, the book is a collection of letters
from one Jack Keefe, a baseball "busher," to his longtime friend,
Al Blanchard, in their midwestern hometown.
The voice of Jack Keefe perfectly echoes the vernacular of the baseball
players Lardner had covered for years as a newspaper reporter following
the exploits of Chicago's Cubs and White Sox. Readers instantly recognized
in Jack the full range of human foibles. This universality accounts for
the enduring appeal of You Know Me Al.
"Ring Lardner is the idol of professional humorists and of plenty
of other people, too."
-- E. B. White
"His work is a contribution of genuine and permanent value to the
national literature."
-- H. L. Mencken
"Mr. Lardner . . . lets Jack Keefe the baseball player cut out his
own outline until the figure of the foolish, boastful, innocent athlete
lives with us."
-- Virginia Woolf

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Review:

In his day, Ring Lardner was a legendary humorist (a job-description he disavowed), and You Know Me Al shows why everyone loved him so. In the letters of Jack Keefe, a bush-league pitcher who finally gets his chance in the majors, Lardner shows not only a faultless ear, but also a keen eye for the amusing details of human folly. Keefe is no comical bumbler--he has talent--but also possesses astonishing na�vete, and a lack of self-awareness that is unerringly hilarious. The busher blames everyone but himself for his failures (a trait that Lardner uses to wonderful comic effect in the story "Alibi Ike"). Still, thanks to Keefe's mixture of hubris and puppy-dog trust, you want to see him come out all right.

Lardner--who played a role in breaking the infamous "Black Sox" scandal of 1919--wrote You Know Me Al while covering pro baseball in the teens; for baseball fans, the book is an intriguing glimpse into the past. Athletes haven't changed much, poor devils. They're just as funny as ever, only richer.

From the Back Cover:

You know me Al is a classic of baseball- the game and the community. It's about competition, about the ability to reason, and most of all it's about being human.

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