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      The Great American Novel

      by Philip Roth
      Published
      May 1991
      Main Genre
      General Fiction General Fiction
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      About This Book

      A richly imagined novel centered on the only homeless major league baseball team in American history, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Pastoral.

      "Roth invents baseball anew, as pure slapstick.... An awesome performance." —The New Republic • "Shameless comic extravagance."—The New York Times

      Gil Gamesh, the only pitcher who ever literally tried to kill the umpire. The ex-con first baseman, John Baal, "The Babe Ruth of the Big House," who never hit a home run sober. If you've never heard of them—or of the homeless baseball team the Ruppert Mundys—it's because of the Communist plot, and the capitalist scandal, that expunged the entire Patriot League from baseball memory.

      In this ribald, wickedly satiric novel, Roth turns baseball's status as national pastime and myth into an occasion for unfettered picaresque farce, replete with heroism and perfidy, ebullient wordplay and a cast of characters that includes the House Un-American Activities Committee.

      Genres & Themes

      Genres

      General Fiction

      Subgenres

      Literary

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      Paperback

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      Apr 1995 Vintage ISBN 0679749063
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      Jan 1980 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0374515840
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      Sep 1985 Penguin ISBN 0140076786
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      May 2006 Random House (UK) ISBN 0099889404
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      Hardcover

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      First Edition May 1991 Henry Holt ISBN 0805017348
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      Jan 1973 Houghton Mifflin ISBN 0030045169
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      Dec 2010 Vintage ISBN 1446401049
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      Jul 2013 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 1466846445
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      Jul 2013 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN B00D0L3NM8
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      Sep 2022 Knopf ISBN 0593685008
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      Mar 2010 Brilliance Audio ISBN B003EN3K6Q
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      Mar 2010 Brilliance Audio ISBN 144180563X
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