The Pugilist's Daughter

From "THE PUGILIST IN TWELVE ROUNDS"When I was eight years old, my father taught mehow to box and I have been sparring my wayinto and out of his corners ever since. In oneof the hundreds of boxing articles he imposedon my memory, I once read boxing was like math, calculating angles. I was destined to fail his belovedGeometry because I had it all backwards, he said.I believed in metaphor and meter the way a boxerbelieves in footwork and timing. Boxing, angles, tennisdodged my southpaw. Forty-Love. The pugilistis winning. I don't know how to break his serve.What comprises home? How do we reconcile our past? When do we forgive? With precision and insight, Judith Antelman looks back at the labyrinth that was her childhood. Through poetic forms, The Pugilist's Daughter harnesses exhilaration and loss. Part celebration, part lament. Travel on this journey that begins in Judith's hometown, and shifts landscapes as far as the west coast, Central Europe, and home again.