Ring Lardner Tonight: Part 4 of "Champion" -- In New Orleans, Midge reads some mail

Midge picked up the stack of letters and post-cards and glanced them over. From the pile he sorted out three letters and laid them on the table. The rest he tossed into the waste-basket. Then he picked up the three and sat for a few moments holding them, while his eyes gazed off into space. At length he looked again at the three unopened letters in his hand; then he put one in his pocket and tossed the other two at the basket. They missed their target and fell on the floor.

"Hell!" said Midge, and stooping over picked them up.

-- from tonight's installment of "Champion"

by Ken

Last night we talked about the two related but distinctly different modes of "semiliterate American," as Ring Lardner Jr. called them, in which his father did most of his writing: the "as spoken" and "as written" versions. This seems to have been an experiment of sorts carried out by the senior Ring in 1916, when in "Champion" and "The Bare Facts" -- while retaining the spoken version for the characters' speech -- he switched to more or less "normal" American third-person narration, something he wouldn't then do again until 1925. So there's plenty of the spoken version, but the written version is mostly foresworn.

The signal exception comes in tonight's installment, as Midge, on the verge of finally winning his coveted championship, in a fight expected to be a cakewalk, sorts through a pile of mail and sets aside three letters. I can't say for sure that it is, but this may be my favorite part of the story.


FOR PART 4 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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