Pour le Sport: Physical Culture in French and Francophone Literature ed. by Roxana Curto and Rebecca Wines

Abstract

Reviewed by: Pour le Sport: Physical Culture in French and Francophone Literature ed. by Roxana Curto and Rebecca Wines Benjamin Sparks Curto, Roxana, and Rebecca Wines, eds. Pour le Sport: Physical Culture in French and Francophone Literature. Liverpool UP, 2021. ISBN 978-1-80085-689-9. Pp. 344. Sport, for centuries, has played a significant role in creating personal, collective, and national identities, conjuring regional and national heroes in moments of triumph, and scapegoats in those of failure. This edited volume analyzes physical culture, defined by the editors as the development and care for the physique, including sport, in the modern sense, as well as leisure and athletic activities. The title implies that these activities are indeed forms of culture that can be analyzed similarly to art and literature. The contributors for this volume come from a broad interdisciplinary background, situating this work at the crossroads of history, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, gender studies, postcolonial studies, and media studies, among other fields. Moreover, to broaden the scope of this work, the editors chose not to focus on one specific sport, period, or geographical location. Therefore, this work looks at physical culture from the Ancient Regime's jeu de paume to present-day soccer in post-colonial Algeria. The emphasis from these contributors focuses on the genre of sports literature, from sports manuals to novels, questioning its existence and characteristics. The primary focus of this work is that of literature. However, this literature opens itself to addressing sports' social, cultural, and political nature. The essays in this volume are ordered chronologically and divided thematically. The first division looks at physical activities and games before the twentieth century. The complication with this portion of the work derives from the fact that the term "sport," as understood today, did not become such until the late nineteenth century. Hence, the contributors focus on physical culture, which includes jousting, jeu de paume, other ball games, and physical activities. Literature about sport during this period demonstrates the cultural significance of physical games as an integral component of the upper-class' way of life and a source of pride, not mere pastimes. The second part of this work looks at the Tour de France and cycling as a demonstration of masculinity and as a means for sport to convey cultural concerns for the body and hygiene. As one of the contributors argues, this annual cycling event projects French society and culture to the outside world. The third part of this book looks at the athletic event of competitive running and sports as a medium for propaganda and manipulation for ideological and political purposes. The next part of this work looks at football (soccer) cultures to illustrate the power of narratives to shape opinions. One contributor looks at soccer as a colonial legacy in Algeria and the ideological relationship between the sport and national identity. The contributions in the final section of this work analyze how narratives about sport and physical activity, especially rugby, soccer, and boxing, can expose tensions in differing views of society and national culture. Pour le Sport provides an engaging discourse around physical activities through a literary lens but, more importantly, provides insight into the social, political, and cultural milieu surrounding sport. [End Page 209] Benjamin Sparks University of Memphis (TN) Copyright © 2023 American Association of Teachers of French