Whatever Happened to Gloomy Gus of the Chicago Bears?

by Robert Coover

This is the account of the last great run on Memorial Day, 1937, by that legendary All-American of the gridiron and the bed, Gloomy Gus, alias Iron Butt, also known as Dick to his friends and family back in Whittier, California. It is the story of the American Dream, as acted out by the Fighting Quaker and as narrated by an orphaned Russian Jew named Meyer, a part-time union organizer and WPA sculptor. In this Depression Era tale of the rise and fall of the Chicago Bear who could not stay onside, Robert Coover has added a new and hilarious twist to the myth of America. Indeed, after it, neither the myth nor America will ever seem quite the same again.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Collections, 20th Century, American, Literature, Novels

154 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Robert Lowell Coover was an American novelist, short story writer, and T. B. Stowell Professor Emeritus in Literary Arts at Brown University. He is generally considered a writer of fabulation and metafiction. He became a proponent of electronic literature and was a founder of the Electronic Literature Organization.

Reviews

[Tony]

Kind of funny and maybe profound. I tired of the repetitive punchline and probably missed the deeper meaning. Yet in this insider, ribald, contorted parody of Richard Nixon, I found this one really thought-provoking passage:

And football is not about violence or atavistic impulses, like Harry says, it's about balance. The line of scrimmage is a fulcrum, not a frontier, the important elements of football being speed and weight. The struggle is not for property, it's for the sudden burst of freedom. And the beauty of that. In football, as in politics, the goal, ultimately, is not ethical but aesthetic.

[Simon Robs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a Bears fan, am from South Side, Chicago, have read and liked most of Coover, wanted to like this novel more, but couldn't. It severely lacked in a needed coherence; Gloomy Gus never figured to signify nor did the narrator Meyer ever grab the reader's desire to get involved - there was a story buried in the history of the period/time which this tale is set Franco/Guernica FDR America that never got got to. Gus was a dud, corny/unthinkable.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great little book that exceeded my expectations. Why this isn't regarded as one of Coover's standouts, I don't know. Perhaps because, unlike a lot of go-to Coover, this one isn't about postmodernist tricks and surrealist surprises; it's just a highly enjoyable bit of comic realism with great characters. It reminded me of Bellow in that regard. Another thing: it's not really about sports as the title suggests. Yes, Gloomy Gus was a star halfback but the novel takes place long after he's left his sports career behind and has fallen in with a bunch of bohemian leftist activists in depression-Era Chicago. Gus is definitely the focus here, but he's already dead when the book begins. We only learn Gus's story through the recollection and investigation of a narrator that only briefly knew him. And Gus isn't really all that knowable anyway, although he's certainly memorable. He's an absurd savant, hilarious and tragic, who says he can believe in the American dream because he's lived it. But all of that goes sour, of course, and Gus is so off-balance (and offsides) that he ends up taking one the other team, a group of Marxists likely being watched by the government. The narrator, a metal-sculptor that (barely) works for the WPA, is sympathetic to both sides but can't reconcile himself to what's happened and that plays into his inner conflict of where to take his art. So yeah, it's a little book, but there's a lot going on. And as Coover reveals all this, he slowly strings us along, brilliantly evoking the keyed-up tenor of the times as he lets us in on Gus's bizarre history while crafting some genius sentences. I'm quite glad I picked up a used copy on a whim.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading The Public Burning this summer I was looking at getting back into the work of Robert Coover. Of the Coover works on my shelf Whatever Happened to Gloomy Gus of the Chicago Bears? stood out to me. Perfect for football season, this short work seemed like the perfect thing.

I knew going into it that Gloomy Gus was another Nixon take down. This time an alternate history where instead of getting into politics Richard Nixon goes full jock and focuses all his attention on getting good at scoring, both in football and with women.

It’s 1937 and Gloomy Gus is killed during the Memorial Day Massacre where the Little Steel strikers clashed with the Chicago Police. An acclaimed halfback for the Chicago Bears, Gloomy Gus dies a hero rather than Nixon’s reality of living in shame. This story is told by a Jewish sculptor, named Meyer who has taken an interest in covering and recording his life.

The story is one of Gloomy Gus but often feels split between the life of Gloomy Gus and the daily goings on of Meyer as he discusses Gus. We get many working class dive bar scenes where Meyer interacts with his social group. Discussing Gus, the labor strikes, the Spanish Civil War, and the Jewish faith. We get a lot of interesting discussions from this and a vivid description of this group but it can feel disjointed from the Nixon subject matter at times.

When starting this I was surprised to find many parallels to Thomas Pynchon’s newest release, Shadow Ticket. Coover and Pynchon have long been compared in their similarities but this really stood out to me with the recency of reading both. The setting of 1930s Chicago and discussions of fascism, the absurd narrative, the songs. It all felt very in line and only adds to my deja vu feelings around Shadow Ticket.

While I felt that Gloomy Gus was disjointed at times between the two narratives, I still preferred this coverage of the rise of fascism in the 1930s to that of Shadow Ticket, as it felt more direct and tangible, particularly in the last chapter. Pynchon often likes to point at the absurdity of power structures but sometimes can get lost in the chaos. I feel like Coover can balance that absurdity with actual commentary better, at least as it's portrayed here.

This silly story is a fun one that looks to once again kick Nixon while he’s down, showcasing that the life of Nixon in this absurdist and ridiculous novella is more ideal than reality. While treading similar ground to The Public Burning it is another angle to the same subject. In this compact work Coover really mastered the Nixon bullying and once again showcases the power of the written word.

[GwenViolet · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if Forest Gump was about the popular front and Forest Gump was a thinly veiled Richard Nixon. Sounds much better if you ask me

[Tim Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nuanced story of a small part of American history. It’s irrelevant if it’s true or false, and probably it isn’t either, but it’s a fascinating insight into a small part of America and it’s Union movement.
Workers right seemingly have never been as protected in America as other countries and I’m sure that hasn’t been good, and this book, if nothing else is a thoughtful insight to that past.

[Carl]

Is it sick to be fascinated with Richard Nixon? Coover clearly is -- and I approve!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was on the fence between 3 and 4 stars (tipping mostly towards 3), but the last chapter had me jump over the fence to a solid 4.

[robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was lovely. It was short.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

Robert Coover seems to take interesting ideas and historical periods and then adds lots of sex, since that’s what he does with all of his novels. Gus (a thinly veiled Nixon in some ways) seems mentally challenged, needing to rehearse everything he does, whether about football or sex and when something is out of order he goes crazy. The novel is narrated by Meyer, a Jewish sculptor involved in union organizing and the WPA. How do these things relate? Gus, after an unbelievably brilliant one year career for the Bears, takes part in a Memorial Day demonstration and is shot to death. No one seems to care all that much.

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

richard nixon as max fischer?

[Gabriel Congdon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Touchdown!

What a sculpture of Gloomy Gus! What a character! I’m not going to get too deep on this one because I spent too much time on my Florence review yesterday, (which, might I add, was a huge success.) But I saw that GG only has a few reviews, and lord knows that always makes me want to pounce. (My secret is that I yell at my roommate. I yell, “IIIII just posted a poetry review and it would sure be great to get a like on it. Aaaaaaaye buddy?” heheh)

Also, because Coover is a genius. K. He’s a goddamn national treasure and I’d endorse a project where every city in America has a sculpture of Coov that walks around and says Cooveraian things. I think it’s a fan-fucking-tastic idea. (also, also you get bonus XP if you read a book published on the year of your birth. Cha-ching.)

It’s a rigorous snack (150 pages). Set in the thirties, Guernica’s going on, Union busting, WPA artist yakking about socialism, the works. I’d agree with the other reviewer, my new friend Erik, whose review is wonderful, that it’s in the realist style. Much more in line with the Brunists.

Wait a minute!

Brunists Day of Wrath only has 87 ratings! My God, whatever you’re doing stop and go read the Brunists. Forget about Gloomy Gus! Start with Origins of the Brunists (his first novel) and then do Wrath (took him ten years to write.) It’s one of the top three experiences I’ve had in this reading life.

Coover says that Football isn’t about imperialism but rather a burst of freedom.

Go Broncos!