So Long, Hector Bebb

by Ron Berry, Niall Griffiths (Foreword)

In a sparse and uncompromising style, this tale tells the story of a boxer from Cymmer in South Wales ready to make his comeback. Abe has ensured that Hector is nurtured into a single-minded fighting machine. He is ready to take on the world, but where do the true dangers lie? Through a series of first-person accounts, a compelling tragic-heroic story unfolds. The traditional values of family and friendship are stripped naked by the relentlessly violent world of boxing. Some are savaged and others liberated, but the consequences of these stark principles leave deep scars on everyone in Hector Bebb's life.

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Ronald Anthony "Ron" Berry was a Welsh writer of English language novels and short stories. Many of Berry's books reflect the working class of the industrial Rhondda Valleys where he grew up and lived for most of his life.

Largely overlooked during his lifetime, Berry has more recently been embraced by contemporary Welsh authors including Rachel Trezise and Niall Griffiths, and also by contemporary researchers.

The Glamorgan County History series describes Berry as "...unjustly neglected... ...whose fiction thrives on those very aspects of Rhondda life that broke the spirit of Gwyn Thomas's imagination."

Reviews

[RdWd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fourteen different first-person narratives tell the gripping story of disgraced Welsh boxer, Hector Bebb, in fourteen different ways and with fourteen distinct voices.

I've never been that interested in fiction about sport. Never one for indulging in films/literature about fighting like Rocky (though I did like Aronofsky's The Wrestler). Ron Berry injected a much-needed dose of thrill and suspense into a sports story, and it did grip me. It's a tale that dares to morph genres as it progresses; and one that interrogates so many outlooks about the world of boxing - from fighters in their prime, to their trainers, their managers, war veteran friends, and especially their pragmatically resilient wives.

A great English language novel from a Welsh writer.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Up in the black sky those summer stars twitched obedience...We’re each and every one of us shaped for muck and glory, thank the Jesus Christ All-bloody-mighty for it and all.”

Fourteen different voices piece together the rise and fall of boxer Hector Bebb – a warrior and a champion cursed by fate to destroy himself and run wild and hunted into the sheep-haunted Welsh hills.

Sounds like an ancient tale from The Mabinogion – and indeed I raised an eyebrow at the appearance of a wounded landowner called Prince – but as far as I know Ron Berry’s novel is entirely original, even if it does give more than a nod to the mythic. Hector himself – “more genius than sense” – is almost an innocent, a force of nature who leaves his mark, for good or ill, on all the other characters. Their voices are distinct, of Cymmer and the Valleys. not always coherent and not necessarily true to life, but still decidedly alive. Interesting and surprising.