Escape and Pursuit – ‘The Duality of Running’ in Sports Literature

Running can take up many forms and has been used for different purposes throughout the cultural history of mankind. The concept of running along with its metaphoric use has been employed and continues to feature as a powerful motif in English Literature. This thesis attempts to distinguish four facets of how running is both used and portrayed within sports literature. Running seems to dwell between and make up a complex duality of escape and pursuit. For the construction of these arguments, four narratives have been analysed: John Updike’s Rabbit, Run (1960), Alan Sillitoe’s The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1959), John L. Parker Jr.’s Once a Runner (1978) and the 1981 produced film Chariots of Fire along with John William Weatherby’s novel.
Keywords: sports literature, metaphor, running, escape, pursuit