El deporte en la literatura

Sport has been a literary theme throughout the ages—from the funeral games for Patroclus in the *Iliad* and the tournaments in the *Song of My Cid* to the works of contemporary authors worldwide. *El deporte en la literatura* (Sport in Literature) recounts how literature has chronicled the evolution of sport from Greece and Rome to the present day—in a society deeply permeated by sports culture. At times, the rich language of sport serves as a point of comparison for literature; at others, it forms the central narrative thread of a work. There is no single definition of sport; rather, interpretations vary and can even be contradictory. Sport has been politically instrumentalized by certain regimes; some view it as a religion; for others, it is merely physical exercise that can turn into an obsession; still others regard the actual practice as secondary, experiencing the spectacle with passion or even fanaticism. Ultimately, it can be a business—or even an art form. Sport is also poetry—a tradition spanning from Pindar, the bard of the Greek Olympic Games, to writers such as Alberti, Celaya, and Luis Alberto de Cuenca.