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Title: Flying Home: And Other Stories by John F. Callahan, Ralph Waldo Ellison ISBN: 0679776613 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: January, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4
Rating: 5
Summary: At Home with Ralph Ellison
Comment: Ralph Ellison's "Flying Home and Other Stories" apparently is the first posthumous collection to be published by his estate. And it is a remarkable collection at that. There are thirteen stories here, six of which had never been published before. The editor, Professor John F. Callahan, did a fine job at choosing the stories to be included, and he describes the fascinating selection process in the book's introduction. Professor Callahan includes three early Buster-and-Riley stories which inspired me to write my short story, "Los Angeles, 1970" (Outsider Ink at: http://outsidermedia.com/00/spring/olivas.html). The Buster-and-Riley stories capture the wonderful and lively banter between the two boys while showing how the racism of the real world touches and affects their childhood. There is also "A Party Down at the Square" which is a chilling story told in the first person by a white boy who witnesses the burning of an African-American man. Each story is well-crafted and powerful in its understatement. Ellison's graceful and evocative language paints a picture of human strength and frailty with the same honest, unflinching brush. Though he is best remembered for his novel, "Invisible Man," this collection demonstrates that he was also a brilliant craftsman of the short story.
Rating: 4
Summary: Flying is easy if there is no buzzard on the way
Comment: Ralph Ellison is a great writer. In this collection of old short stories we see him grow and develop under our own eyes. He deals with the problem of racial relations and of race definitions with a tact and humor that make some of his stories extremely funny. But some others are dramatic and deal with a more general and abstract matter. The title story is typical of that. A black pilot is confronted to all kinds of reactions, from his dead father, from a vulture that crashed his plane, from the white owner of the field where he crashes, from the blacks who try to solve his problem : he broke his ankle in the accident. The father is being humorous about heaven and white Saint Peter. The white owner is deeply racist and brings two « nurses » from a psychiatric hospital since a black man has to become crazy if he flies. The black witnesses are just trying to help the poor fallen pilot without getting any antagonism from the white owner, which is not exactly easy. In each story we find such situations that bring racism to the fore or that reveals the « education » a black man has to go through to become « adapted » to this racist society, to make himself, if not invisible, at least unconspicuous. Those stories are worth a little voyage into this writing that we see building itself stone by stone. Of course the real walls are the novels, but here are the handy tasks that shaped Ralph Ellison's hand and pen for the novels. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.
Rating: 3
Summary: Uneven, but good for Ellison fans
Comment: I read this book recently after devouring Invisible Man. I have to say, though, that I was a little dissappointed by this book. Curiously enough, a lot of these stories weren't published in Ellison's lifetime, and with some of them, it's evident why. A few of the stories are juvenile, not at all comparable to Invisible Man, and by the same token, a few of them are spectacular pieces of prose. So, with this volume, I advise you to tread carefully, but read it all the way through. The gems are worth it, despite the failures.
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Title: Shadow and Act by Ralph Ellison ISBN: 0679760008 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: March, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison (Modern Library) by John Callahan, Ralph Waldo Ellison, Saul Bellow ISBN: 0679601767 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: November, 1995 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison ISBN: 0679732764 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: March, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Juneteenth: A Novel by John F. Callahan, Ralph Waldo Ellison, Charles Johnson ISBN: 0375707549 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 13 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Uncle Tom's Children by Richard A. Wright ISBN: 0060812516 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: April, 1993 List Price(USD): $7.00 |
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