Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
Introduced by John Updike and published in America for the first time, The Haunted Major recounts a golf match of epic proportions between adversaries. In this uproarious tale about human conceit and the supernatural, Major the Honorable John William Wentworth Gore, an English gentleman of sublime self-esteem, challenges crack golfer Jim Lindsay to a game for the chance to propose marriage to Mrs. Gunter, a beautiful American millionairess.
Although "Jacky" Gore, the narrator, alleges to be a marvelously accomplished sportsman, he has never set foot on a fairway and has only seven days to learn to pitch, putt, and drive the course like a veteran.
To prepare for the match, which is to take place on the fictitious St. Magnus links in Scotland (based on the Old Course at St. Andrews), Gore secretly hires a coach and transforms his hotel room into a golf studio, outfitted with turf, a moveable hillock, a bunker, and specially padded walls to absorb drives. Gore is set to win or lose like a gentleman when the revengeful ghost of a Scottish cardinal with some odd-shaped clubs materializes, adding an otherworldly twist to the story.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
Previews available in: English
Subjects
Fiction, Golf, Golfers, Tournaments, Women millionaires, Americans, Ghosts, Wagers, Modern fiction, Fiction - General, General, Classics, Fiction, historical, Scotland, fiction, Fiction, sports, Fiction, historical, generalPeople
Cardinal Smeaton, Major GorePlaces
Scotland, Great BritainTimes
Written in 1902, set at that timeShowing 3 featured editions. View all 18 editions?
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
1 |
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
2 |
cccc
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
3
The haunted major
1973, Scottish Academic Press
in English
- [1st ed. reprinted] / with a foreword by Henry Longhurst ; and the original drawings by Harry Furniss.
0701118733 9780701118730
|
cccc
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
Edition Notes
Classifications
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Source records
Internet Archive item recordLibrary of Congress MARC record
Better World Books record
marc_columbia MARC record
Work Description
"Inspired by the new craze for golf that had developed at the dawn of the 20th century, this comic story recounts the efforts of sports-mad Major Gore to beat Lindsay, a young golf champion. The Major receives supernatural assistance in his cause from the ghost of Cardinal Smeaton, a Scottish renaissance figure who is still nursing a grudge against his opponent's family." - - Description by Peter Haining, in "A Century of Ghost Novels 1900 - 200" (Appendix to his book, The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories)
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?November 22, 2023 | Edited by David Scotson | Edited without comment. |
November 1, 2023 | Edited by OnFrATa | Merge works (MRID: 92810) |
October 4, 2021 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
May 12, 2021 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
December 9, 2009 | Created by WorkBot | add works page |