The Queen's Gambit (novel)

Infobox Book
name = The Queen's Gambit
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author = Walter Tevis
illustrator =
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country = USA
language = English
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genre = Psychological thriller, suspense thriller
publisher = Random House
pub_date = 1983
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media_type =
pages = 243
isbn = 1400030609
oclc =
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"The Queen's Gambit" is an American thriller novel by Walter Tevis. The bildungsroman coming-of-age novel was originally published in 1983 and covers themes in feminism, chess, drug addiction, and alcoholism.

Epigraph

The novel's epigraph is "The Long-Legged Fly" by William Butler Yeats. This poem highlights one of the novel's main concerns: the inner workings of genius in a woman. Tevis discusses this concern in his 1983 interview with Don Swain [ [http://wiredforbooks.org/waltertevis/ Walter Tevis Interview with Don Swaim ] ] , and never wrote the sequel he mentions in the interview.

Plot

Named after a chess opening favored by the protagonist Beth Harmon, "The Queen's Gambit" traces Harmon's life from her childhood in an orphanage through her struggles with tranquilizer and alcohol addiction to her triumphant rise through the Grandmaster ranks.

Eight-year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control. By the age of sixteen, she’s competing for the U.S. Open championship. But as she hones her skills on the professional circuit, the stakes get higher, her isolation grows more frightening, and the thought of escape becomes all the more tempting. Engaging and fast-paced, "The Queen’s Gambit" speeds to a conclusion as elegant and satisfying as a mate in four.

Literary significance and reception

The novel is difficult to classify, occupying a space between thriller, sports/game novel and bildungsroman. It has cult status for its addictive plot:

and for the technical accuracy of its depictions of chess:

Tevis based the chess scenes on his own experience as a class C player and on his long study of the game ("The Queen's Gambit", endnote "About the Author"), and he elaborates on this in the Author's Note:

cquote|The superb chess of Grandmasters Robert Fischer, Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov has been a source of delight to players like myself for years. Since The Queen's Gambit is a work of fiction, however, it seemed prudent to omit them from the cast of characters, if only to prevent contradiction of the record.

I would like to express my thanks to Joe Ancrile, Fairfield Hoban and Stuart Morden, all excellent players, who helped me with books, magazines, and tournament rules. And I was fortunate to have the warm-hearted and diligent help of National Master Bruce Pandolfini in proofreading the text and in helping me rid it of errors concerning the game he plays so enviably well.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

The novel had been attempted to be made into a feature film in 1983, when "The New York Times" journalist Jesse Kornbluth acquired rights for a screenplay, nearly every actor and director that he knew were interested in participating. [ [http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/1400030609.asp Bookreporter.com - THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT by Walter Tevis ] ] When Tevis died in 1984, rights to the movie were sold to another studio and the movie was called off due to financial concerns.

In 1992, Scottish screenwriter Allan Scott acquired rights for a screenplay of a planned art house film. Among the directors who were involved at one point included Michael Apted and Bernardo Bertolucci, each eventually moved on to other projects. In 2007 and 2008, Scott was working with Heath Ledger on what would have been Ledger's directorial debut, and who was set to star alongside Ellen Page. Production and principal photography were planned for late 2008 but were put on hold following the director's death on January 22. [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-and-tv/features/heath-ledger--a-prophetic-tragedy-795344.html Heath Ledger - a prophetic tragedy - Features, Film & TV - The Independent ] ]

Publication history

*1983, USA, Random House
*2003, USA, Vintage, 2003-03-11

References

External links

* [http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v3=1&DB=local&CMD=010a+2003267976&CNT=10+records+per+page Library of Congress]