Lone Sailors and Spiritual Insights
Edwin Mellen Press Ltd (Verlag)
978-0-7734-6039-3 (ISBN)
- Titel ist leider vergriffen;
keine Neuauflage - Artikel merken
This book examines a number of autobiographical and biographical works, as well as personal interviews, which substantiate the author's thesis that solo sailors, who face peril at sea and come to terms with the sea's partiality and get used to its indifference, can undergo a transformation of self can lead to what he terms as spiritual purpose or 'moral presence'. One of the most common cliches about sport is that it "builds character," with the maxim "The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton," being one of the most prominent examples. Yet there has been surprisingly little scholarly work on the sport/character nexus. Thus Richard Hutch's present work is a valuable inquiry into character-formation in sport. Using an interdisciplinary perspective and creatively blending primary and secondary sources from myriad contexts, Hutch demonstrates both why single-handed sailors take such high risks and the moral lessons we can learn from their endeavours. Perhaps the most absorbing aspect of Hutch's analysis is his explanation of how sailors "navigate" the cultural imperatives of "technical self-reliance" and "moral presence."
The former term refers to the ways in which sailing (and virtually all sports) has become increasingly dependent on science and technology. Moral presence is about how sailors react when the technology becomes useless and they face life-threatening situations. Hutch shows that although responses vary, sailors tend to oscillate between the extremes of "adapting" and "optimising," with too much of the latter often leading to hubris. By using examples as varied as the deluded Donald Crowhurst perishing in the mid-Atlantic and Kay Cottee marveling at the beauty of the 20-metre waves off Cape Horn that could have pulverised her at any moment, Hutch convincingly and compellingly elucidates the "existential paradox" of single-handed sailing. Hutch shows how "bearing witness to oneself" in single-handed sailing can lead to profound spiritual insights and revivify human existence. This is a fascinating, erudite and highly readable contribution to existentialism, phenomenology, psychoanalysis, religious studies, and sports studies.
It represents groundbreaking work in the field of sport and spirituality, drawing insightfully on a wide range of sources in the social and behavioural sciences and the history and psychology of religions.
Jim McKay is a Reader in Sociology in the School of Social Science at The University of Queensland, where he teaches courses on gender and popular culture. He is a former editor of the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, and his most recent books are Men, Masculinities, and Sport (Sage, 2000) and Globalization and Sport: Playing the World (Sage, 2001).
Preface; Foreword, i; Chapter 1, 1; Sport and Human Character; Chapter 2, 19; A Project on the Sport of Yachting; Chapter 3, 61; The Chichester Paradigm: Competitive Racing; Chapter 4, 83; The Slocum Paradigm: Leisurely Cruising; Chapter 5, 105; Breakdown of Technical Self-Reliance; Chapter 6, 141; Selfhood, Psychoanalysis and Moral Presence; Chapter 7, 167; Taking Bearings on Lone Yachtsmen at Sea. Chapter 8, 205; Self-Excess, Weathered Finesse: Donald Crowhurst and Robin Knox-Johnston; Chapter 9, 249; Cosmic Quest, Nothing Less: Bernard Moitessier; Chapter 10, 275; Personal Best, Challenging Test: Naomi James and Kay Cottee; Chapter 11, 325; Dreams, Nightmares and Helpless Peril at Sea: Jesse Martin and Tami Ashcraft; Conclusions, 359; Bibliography, 375; Index, 393.
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 20.4.2006 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Mellen Studies in Sport S. ; v. 1 |
| Verlagsort | New York |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Themenwelt | Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Sport ► Segeln / Tauchen / Wassersport |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-7734-6039-X / 077346039X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-7734-6039-3 / 9780773460393 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
aus dem Bereich
