| Title | : | The Black Ball |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0241339227 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780241339220 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 53 |
| Publication | : | First published February 22, 2018 |
Belonging and estrangement intertwine in these four lyrical short stories from the the author of Invisible Man.
Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.
The Black Ball Reviews
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I hit the jackpot with this collection of four slice-of-life stories - the reality of racism looms large in all of them. I particularly liked "In a Strange Country" about a Black sailor in Wales who doesn't trust the welcome he receives by whites.
Penguin Modern Classics
#1 - Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.
#2 - Television Was a Baby Crawling Toward That Deathchamber by Allen Ginsberg
#3 - The Breakthrough by Daphne Du Maurier
#4 - The Custard Heart by Dorothy Parker
#5 - Three Japanese Short Stories (3 authors)
#6 - The Veiled Woman by Anais Nin
#7 - Notes on Nationalism by George Orwell
#8 - Food by Gertrude Stein
#9 - The Three Electroknights by Stanislaw Lem
#10 - The Great Hunger by Patrick Kavanagh
#11 - The Legend of the Sleepers
#12 - The Black Ball by Ralph Ellison -
Four stories from Ralph Ellison, three exploring individual experiences of being black in twentieth-century America: in ‘Boy on a Train’ set in 1924, a mother and her small children are travelling to her new job but what opens on a gentle, almost-idyllic scene centred on the children’s delight in seeing animals and landscapes fly past the compartment window, slowly shifts into a moving demonstration of a child’s growing understanding of difference and dangerous prejudice; a theme Ellison revisits in ‘The Black Ball’ where a father strives to protect his young son from an awareness of the realities of life in a racist society; ‘Hymie’s Bull’ uses a vernacular style to provide a brief but striking glimpse of the lives of itinerant black men riding the rails and desperately dodging the brutal attentions of railroad police. The final entry in this modest selection of Ellison's work, ‘In a Strange Country,’ follows a black soldier, posted to Wales during WW2, who discovers unexpected forms of solidarity when he spends an evening drinking with the locals. Ellison’s approach in these short pieces is deceptively, impressively simple, a series of vignettes and close-up snapshots in time, powerful in their immediacy and enviably concise; his prose reminded me at times of the ‘dirty realism’ associated with writers like Raymond Carver, similarly direct, often minimalist and quietly controlled, so that the passages conveying moments of intense emotion are made even more effective.
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One of the most hurtful things is to read about innocent little black kids who face racism and don’t understand what’s happening. Honestly, neither do I. Because why is it that we must live divided and people of colour cannot live as carefree as white people can. Such a shame. This book brought that to light in a different way. I liked it a lot!
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A pleasently well written series of short stories about the black people of America in the turn of the twentieth century.
Beautiful and sad in equal measure. A writer that needs to be read not just for the content but also for his skilled penmanship. -
Four stories, mixed bag. 4*, 2*, 4*, 2*. Review coming soon.
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This is the first of Ellison's works that I've read, and it's a great introduction to a very lyrical – one reviewer called it "haunting," and I think that's exactly right – writing style that at the same time is down to earth and realistic in that classic mid-century American way.
What makes the four stories of The Black Ball so haunting is that overhanging them is the specter of racism. The characters are aware of it, and it affects them, or they are unaware of it, and that knowledge of their innocence affects us. But none of the stories is really about racism; they are simply about navigating America while black, which means they are also about racism.
In any event, the selections themselves are also well chosen. One could imagine them telling the story of a single person, from boyhood to adulthood and eventually military service over the course of the early 20th century. The timeline doesn't quite work, but it fits just well enough so that each story builds on the one before it, whether Ellison ever intended them that way or not.
Ellison and other African American writers from the 20th century are finally getting their due in the pantheon of "The Classics," as evidenced by his inclusion in the Penguin Modern Classics set I'm working through. But they still are not as recognized as the Steinbecks, Faulkners and Hemingways who are considered the apex of American literature in that era. Well, they should be, and The Black Ball is a terrific opening argument. -
Four very powerful short stories focusing on Black lives in twentieth century America. Each markedly different, whether it’s commentary on raising children in a racist society, visiting a new country with dark skin, or even just escaping oppression from figures of authority, each of these stories had something to say, and Ellison makes sure he says it wonderfully.
His prose is endearing in a stark and humbling fashion. We see his characters struggle, see the brutal realities they face daily, and yet some hope can be found if you look for it.
Although the stories don’t focus on racism directly, there is a constant feeling of dread looming around Ellison’s characters. A look on a train, a word from a stranger, small things strike fear in us for our characters and this contributes to a clear depiction of how life was lived by people of colour back then, and still today. As these were originally published in the forties, it really does make you wonder what humanity has done to evolve in that time. Nothing, it seems.
A wonderful introduction to Ellison for me. His style is enigmatically beautiful, despite his subject matter, and his commentary and observations are enough to provoke some deep thought. I’ll be seeking out some more Ellison in the very near future, I feel. -
Great stories. I loved the first two, the third and fourth less so. But Ralph Ellison’s writing has a very lyrical and often haunting quality. This collection is a great introduction.
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3.5.
This is a collection of 4 short stories, with the first two rating 3 and the latter rating 4 from me.
There’s such resilience but also resignation in these stories of race. They were heartbreaking and beautiful and I’m glad to have read them. -
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Four shortstories all having in common the main theme of racism. All very touchy, delicate and intimate. The stories differ a lot but fit together perfectly.
3.5 -
Review will follow later!
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Liked the stories overall, one or two of them didn't quite hit the mark for me. Was great to experience Ralph Ellison's writing again!
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Loved 'In a Strange Country' and 'Hymie's Bull'
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The Black Ball ini terdiri dari beberapa cerpen pendek, semuanya membahas tentang kasus rasisme terhadap orang kulit hitam. Masalah yang diangkat mulai dari child-labor hingga akses terbatas pada pendidikan orang kulit hitam. Orang yang dianggap pintar akan diincar dan dianggap membahayakan.
Sungguh, membaca Penguin Modern edisi ini banyak membantu untuk semakin mengenal penulis dengan latar yang lebih diverse. -
3,5 *
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Read for school.
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Four of Ralph Ellison's stories - 'Boy on a Train', 'Hymie's Bull', 'The Black Ball', and 'In a Strange Country' - have been collected together in The Black Ball, the twelfth Penguin Modern book. These are 'stories of belonging and alienation, violence and beauty, racial injustice and unexpected kindness, from a writer of searing emotion and lyricism.' The majority of these stories have been taken from a collection published in 1996, and entitled Flying Home and Other Stories. I had somehow not read any of Ellison's work before picking up this selection, but found it highly engaging. His prose is quite startling in places, and he is an author not afraid to poke into the darker elements of life. I am so looking forward to reading more of Ellison's books in future.
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If story's were flowers this collection would be a bunch of red roses. Bright and punchy, surrounded by thorns and in a vase, living forever. But of course stories are not flowers. They are stories. Some of them more remarkable than others, the rose over the daisy.
The sheer thrill of Ellison's prose is marvellous. I loved this collection of short stories gifted to me by a friend for my birthday. Each one is packed with thoughtful insights into racial injustice and unexpected kindness. That's what it says on the back of the book; unexpected kindness. The fact that kindness is unexpected is heartbreaking. Kindness of course should not be unexpected, but the sheer surprise of it in 'In a Strange Country' and 'The Black Ball', highlight the alienating effect of racism. -
A collection of four short stories (unconnected). In each one Ralph Ellison sets the scene with such gentle yet evocative writing. 'Boy on a Train' and 'Hymie's Bull' are premised on a transitional journey to escape a particular condition. In 'The Black Ball' a father and son cannot escape the condition, they can only conform and survive. The last one 'In a Strange Country' was a bit of a surprise: a black American sailor passes through Wales and unexpectedly connects with its warm people. Ellison's description and character development are indicative of a powerful novelist... so I can't wait to read The Invisible Man.
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The African-American characters in these stories clearly don't identify as American and don't wish to follow the rules and laws which have been established. No-one thinks a law should be followed if it is discriminatory based on race; if the law about climbing on top of railroad cars to travel for free meant it was only illegal for black people to do it, that would be an unjust law and could be rightly ignored. But it isn't - it applies to everyone equally. Not liking a law which applies to you doesn't make it discriminatory against you or a group with which you identify. And if the characters don't identify as American, why are they upset that Americans won't treat them equally? We know, as history tells us, that African-Americans were not going to be treated equally at this time no matter what - but how can you ask for equal treatment when you don't identify as belonging to a group which should be treated equally? "Treat me like any other American, even though I contend I am not an American!"
Of course, this isn't indicative of the nature of all the stories in the book. The others feature examples of really awful treatment of black Americans by white Americans - and even though these are relatively mild cases in the grand scheme of things, they're still appalling. Americans really did treat their fellows very poorly for a very long time, and a strong argument can be made for how one "small" injustice - when it happens in a setting of many other, larger injustices - can just be considered part of a bigger "whole" of injustice. -
The Black Ball by Ralph Ellison
Penguin Modern #12
Powerful, heart-breaking, rightly disturbing. Oh the injustice of entrenched racism.
Fantastic writer – cleansing the soul with righteous fever.
Belonging and estrangement intertwine in these four lyrical short stories from the author of Invisible Man.
BOY ON A TRAIN
'If he only knew what it was, he would fix it; he would kill this mean thing that made Mama feel so bad.' (p11)
Yes, I’ll kill it. I’ll make it cry. Even if it’s God, I’ll make God cry, he thought. I’ll kill Him; I’ll kill God and not be sorry!’ (p13)
HYMIE’S BULL
‘I stood on top (of the train), feeling the wind pushing against my eyes and whipping my pants against my legs, and waved to Hymie.’ (17-18)
The first published story written by Ellison was a short story entitled "Hymie's Bull," a story inspired by Ellison traveling as a hobo on a train with his uncle to get to Tuskegee
THE BLACK BALL
This one tears at the heart. Why should a baby boy be faced with racial prejudice, and the father apologising to ‘his superiors’ for it?
Last line:
‘Maybe there was a color other than white on the old ball.’ (p39)
IN A STRANGE COUNTRY
‘A black Yank.’ (p45)
How toxic it is when Americans are racist even when outside of America! -
Very readable this. Four short stories by the write of The Invisible Man, that mine different areas of experience that were under-reported back when. Occasionally reminiscent of Steinbeck (a white American who did open up his eyes), this tells economical stories which broadly succeed very well.
The opener is the weakest for me (although still worth reading), recounting a family's journey to a new home and hopefully more acceptance. The positive ending rings deliberately hollowly. Better is the freight-train set Hymie's Bull, which depicts the savagery present in 40s USA and the effort required to survive it - life in the boxcar is effectively sketched in few words, so that the setting sticks.
Title story The Black Ball is the standout in here, with the challenges of acquiescence to racism presented most clearly.
Final tale, In a Strange Country, is a real curio - as our narrator finds acceptance and a new sense of his nationality via a hobo-up with a male voice choir. Ah, the old ones are the best!
I will retread The Invisible Man after enjoying these so much. -
Wonderful prose. The themes that carry through all the stories are so potent; they follow you around. I think that’s something I picked up while reading this. The fact that through all the stories you pick up these small details that follow you through the book. You can’t help but feel that the characters can’t shake the idea that they are always being followed as well and for them there is a sense of confinement; no escape from their past lives, forever doomed to be downtrodden and outcast. Yet often times we see kindness spring up. The final story made me very emotional, the idea that there are people who do and can make you feel welcome, and even if they bear no resemblance to you, you know there is something deeper that we all share: music, a sense of identity and in our characters case a longing for a place to belong; to really live. Truly, we are all not so different.
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A great collection of four short stories about four different experiences of black lives.
“Boy on a Train” and “The Black Ball” were about raising black kids, who should be blissful and carefree children, but start to realize that they are “black” kids, and that startling realization suddenly throws them off that carefree train.
In “Hymie’s Bull”, Ellison uses vernacular language to describe how black men carefully tread as they pass by white officers or “bulls”.
The last story “In A Strange Country” was probably my favorite, here’s a black American soldier in WW2 in Wales being suspicious of white Welshmen welcoming him as a brother in arms.
The way Ellison writes these raw vignettes is marvelous, at first he draws you in slowly and then suddenly “slaps” you across the face with truth. Loved it. -
Ralph Ellison has become one of my favourite author discoveries of the year.
While I have a deep respect for many books about civil rights and black history, I've never been able to connect with them quite as easily as I do the works of this man. I loved The Invisible Man and now The Black Ball too.
It's another small short story collection but covers multiple experiences that can befall a person of colour from action-packed shocks to small acts of human kindness.
I would say what most appeals to me about Ellison's writing is its balance of brutal honesty and wry sense of humour. It makes for a very rewarding viewpoint to understand.
Empathy is one subject that short stories cover particularly well and I'm glad to say these ones are exemplary.
NOTABLE STORIES
• The Black Ball - when the ball is through the window, you can begin to see the multiple themes tying together.
• In a Strange Country - a glimmer of hope is found in a painful tear brought about by Welsh harmony. -
Empat cerita pendek yang berpusat pada ras kulit gelap di Amerika. Keempat kisah ini sebenarnya berdiri sendiri-sendiri, tetapi pemilihan kisahnya seperti diperhitungkan untuk mencapai kesan masa kehidupan yang berurutan. Mulai dari kisah perjalanan seorang anak menuju masa depan yang penuh kemarahan dan impian, pergulatan seorang pemuda dengan polisi kulit putih yang hanya memandang warna, seorang ayah yang memperjuangkan kehidupan yang lebih baik bagi anaknya, hingga penerimaan yang justru didapatkan di tempat yang sama sekali asing. Jalinan kata-kata dan narasinya tersusun indah, dengan idiom dan pilihan kata yang memberikan kesan lebih dalam, salah satunya karena ambiguitasnya.
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It's easy to read this in about an hour, though the re-reading should take longer. I didn't realize at first that these were four distinct stories, though they could all describe one consciousness at different moments. I found the last story "In a Strange Country" to be the most touching, perhaps because I could relate to the feeling of being in a foreign country and confused about patriotism, but also for its consideration of music and a deeper humanity. The "Black Ball" was also good- they are all good and create a varied map of racism and its different forms, but also the individual interactions that reveal and go beyond it.
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Tales of racism and prejudice in America during the early
part of last century, but also tales of belonging and the simple things in life. The craft of the words is what’s striking about these short stories. The importance of how simplicity can provide happiness, the purity of the child and how one can be poisoned and hurt my prejudice. The desire of the Father for something better yet seemingly powerless to provide it, accepting that his offspring shall suffer the same fate. Sad yet beautiful in equal measure. -
These little books by penguin are a great introduction to authors you've heard about, but never read. This certainly made me want to read more by Ellison and understand his place in the American literature canon. Picking four tiny stories was probably a challenging task, and these four might each appeal to different audiences. But there is a through-line that unites them, and they will give you a sense of what the author is all about.
