‘A conception of the beautiful’: C. L. R. James' Glasgow Herald cricket articles, 1937–1938

Abstract

This article examines the series of cricket reports that C. L. R. James wrote during the seasons of 1937 and 1938 for The Glasgow Herald newspaper. It demonstrates the degree to which James' later ideas concerning the sport are already discernible in these writings. The article provides a contextual account of these reports, seeking to relate them both to their historical moment and to James' later theories of cricketing aesthetics, and of the sport's social and political significance.