Ring Lardner Tonight: In Part 1 of "Champion," we make the acquaintance of young Michael Kelly

"Champion" doesn't actually appear in Some Champions, though you have to figure that the editors who titled this 1976 collection of previously uncollected Lardner stories had the title of one of the author's most famous stories in their heads.

"The people pays their money to see the fella with the wallop."

-- Tommy Haley, Midge's first manager, in "Champion"

by Ken

It's a measure of the power of "Champion" that it disturbs me maybe as much as any piece of fiction I've read. Rereading it for the first time in a long while, I've found that it disturbs me now as much as ever, and as always, the disturbance sets in immediately as we make the acquaintance of young Michael (Midge) Kelly.

In the matter of what manner of monster exactly Midge is, one thing that struck me this time through is that while he defends himself every time his behavior is challenged -- and it's challenged often, albeit not very successfully -- he never defends the actual behavior. Instead he always, always lies about it, reinventing the event in question so that he is retrospectively not just in the right but in fact the victim.

I don't know whether this applies to bullies in general or just to this one, but it seems to me worth bearing in mind anytime we're tempted to think of Midge as a person without remorse (apparently true) or without conscience (maybe not so true, or why does he always lie about what he's done?).


FOR PART 1 OF "CHAMPION," CLICK HERE.

RING'S "CHAMPION" -- THE WHOLE STORY

Part 1: We make the acquaintance of young Michael Kelly
Part 2: In Milwaukee, Midge makes connections
Part 3: In Boston, Midge makes his mark
Part 4: In New Orleans, Midge reads some mail
Part 5: Back in his hometown, the champ knows how to deal with a sponger
Part 6: Back in Milwaukee, the champ rearranges more old arrangements
Part 7: In New York, the champ meets the press
Postscript: How "Champion" found its way into book form

THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, BOB AND RAY, E. B. WHITE, and JEAN SHEPHERD TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

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