March, Joseph – The Set Up

Description

March, Joseph ‘The Set Up’ 1928 6th printing boxing novel. 184-pages. Spine is slanted, otherwise good condition. INSCRIBED by author on the frontispiece “To Thomas Watson, J.M. March, Hollywood 1933.” Has a bookplate reading ‘The Library of Thomas Tainter Watson Jr.’ on the inside of the front cover.

“The Set-Up” is a gritty, fast-paced narrative poem written in rhyming verse that tells the story of pansy Jones, an aging, cynical African American heavyweight boxer. Written by Joseph Moncure March and published during the height of the Jazz Age, the book exposes the brutal, corrupt underbelly of professional boxing, where matches are ruthlessly rigged by promoters and gamblers.
The story unfolds over the course of a single night as Pansy prepares for a fight, unaware that his own manager has taken a bribe for him to lose. Refusing to take a dive, Pansy fights with everything he has left, leading to a powerful and tragic climax. The book is highly celebrated for its sharp, rhythmic “tough-guy” vernacular, modern cinematic pacing, and its rare, sympathetic portrayal of a Black protagonist in 1920s literature. It later served as the basis for the acclaimed 1949 film noir movie starring Robert Ryan.