Sport and the arts may compete for sponsors and for public interest, but do they necessarily stand in opposition to one another? Why is it so often assumed that sport is popular because it is an unintelligent endeavour? And why is it apparently inevitable that there is an element of elitism in the arts? Have we drawn a false dichotomy between the two pursuits? What do we make of arts practitioners and ‘intellectuals’ who are passionate about sport? Or sports buffs who take a keen interest in literature, music, theatre, dance and the visual arts?

Sport versus Art is a collection of essays, commentaries, personal memoirs and humorous pieces attempting to answer these and other questions about a fraught relationship at the heart of South Africa’s public life. There has never been a publication of this kind – it brings together a range of contributions from sport and arts journalists, arts practitioners, academics and other writers. The book’s appearance in 2010 is timely; the links between sport, the arts and public life in South Africa will continue to be a significant part of national discussions and debates at every level, from the shebeen and the braai all the way to parliament.

Chris Thurman dabbled in sports science before realising that his vocation lay in more literary pursuits. After stints in Grahamstown, London, Nagoya and Cape Town, he joined the Department of English Literature at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where he is currently a lecturer. He has also been a regular contributor to The Weekender, The Sunday Independent and various other publications as an arts critic and travel writer. His other books are Text Bites, a multi-genre anthology for high school learners (Oxford University Press, 2009) and the scholarly work Guy Butler: Reassessing a South African Literary Life (University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2010).

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