"My Career with the Leafs"

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses "My Career with the Leafs" by Brian Fawcett, which offers an ironic glimpse at our perception of professional hockey as it is represented to us by the popular media. The paper describes the fictional account of a poet who became a hockey player and thereafter experienced brushes with fame and the media. The paper also explains how this book is relevant to contemporary Canadian culture.

Outline:
Introduction
A Career With the Leafs
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Fawcett's story opens up with the character, a self-described poet, explaining how he came to be a famous hockey player for the highly acclaimed Canadian hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Fawcett's ironic wit comes early on in the book: he describes his move into the Big League (that revered institution of popular culture) as "surprisingly easy" (Beardsley 180). This early reference indicates that Fawcett's story will be a fairy-tale one - in reality, movement into the major hockey league is difficult and arduous and based on years of hard work, though in the minds of hopeful Canadian boys lives the dream of being instantly accepted into professional hockey through some miraculous offer. Though this is far from realistic, such dreams are encouraged by the media and popular culture, who enjoy such rags-to-riches type good luck tales: this theme is common in movies, television shows, books, and, more recently, in fan fiction on the internet."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Beardsley, Doug (Ed.) (1988). Our Game: An All-Star Collection of Hockey Fiction. Vancouver, British Columbia: Raincoast Books.
• Gruneau, Richard and Whitson, David. (1993). Hockey Night in Canada: Sport, Identities and Cultural Politics. Toronto, Ontario: Garamond Press.

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