DAMBALLAH

by John Edgar Wideman

This collection of interrelated stories spans the history of Homewood, a Pittsburgh community founded by a runaway slave. With stunning lyricism, Wideman sings of "dead children in garbage cans, of gospel and basketball, of lost gods and dead fathers" (John Leonard). It is a celebration of people who, in the face of crisis, uphold one another--with grace, courage, and dignity.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, African American, Classics, Literary Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

A widely-celebrated writer and the winner of many literary awards, he is the first to win the International PEN/Faulkner Award twice: in 1984 for Sent for You Yesterday and in 1990 for Philadelphia Fire. In 2000 he won the O. Henry Award for his short story "Weight", published in The Callaloo Journal.

In March, 2010, he self-published "Briefs," a new collection of microstories, on Lulu.com. Stories from the book have already been selected for the O Henry Prize for 2010 and the Best African-American Fiction 2010 award.

His nonfiction book Brothers and Keepers received a National Book Award. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and much of his writing is set there, especially in the Homewood neighborhood of the East End. He graduated from Pittsburgh's Peabody High School, then attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he became an All-Ivy League forward on the basketball team. He was the second African-American to win a Rhodes Scholarship (New College, Oxford University, England), graduating in 1966. He also graduated from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Critics Circle nomination, and his memoir Fatheralong was a finalist for the National Book Award. He is also the recipient of a MacArthur genius grant. Wideman was chosen as winner of the Rea Award for the Short Story in 1998, for outstanding achievement in that genre. In 1997, his novel The Cattle Killing won the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction.

He has taught at the University of Wyoming, University of Pennsylvania, where he founded and chaired the African American Studies Department, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's MFA Program for Poets & Writers. He currently teaches at Brown University, and he sits on the contributing editorial board of the literary journal Conjunctions.

Reviews

[Grady · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are sad, hard stories about different members of an African American family extended across at least six generations. The style is modernist and literary - understated, often oblique, but conveying great weights of loss, suffering, and the enduring experience of poverty and racial injustice. What makes it particularly hard to read is the knowledge that many of the stories are informed by the history of Wideman's real-world family. It's not at all clear in this book whether the arc of history bends in any direction, just that there will be complicated people fighting to shape their own lives every step of the way.

[Ahmed Shahine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grady rated it really liked it
These are sad, hard stories about different members of an African American family extended across at least six generations. The style is modernist and literary - understated, often oblique, but conveying great weights of loss, suffering, and the enduring experience of poverty and racial injustice. What makes it particularly hard to read is the knowledge that many of the stories are informed by the history of Wideman's real-world family. It's not at all clear in this book whether the arc of ...mor

[Gurldoggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intense cycle of stories documenting moments in the lives of several generations of Black friends and family in a Pittsburgh neighborhood. The stories range in time from the 1800’s to the present day, and each one is complete and quite moving on its own. But taken together they are enormously powerful, bringing very real and very wounded people to painful life.

[Gabrielle Danoux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Une douzaine de nouvelles écrites par un écrivain puissant et érudit, une sorte de Faulkner noir mais sans l'alcool, qui nous montre l'horreur de l'esclavage directement, sans l'éviter.
Très belle traduction de Jean-Pierre Richard qui la dédie à la mémoire de son confrère Rémy Lambrechts.
Salutaire !

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

favorite stories: "across the wide missouri" and "the beginning of homewood"
lyrical writing, wonderful imagery and sense of place, fleshed out and lived-in world. gives new meaning to the whole genre of creative non-fiction.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most powerful fiction (if it is really fiction), I've read in years. Brutal & poetic.

[Matt Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wideman’s collection of interconnected stories is an exemplar of finding beauty in the midst of tragedy, cruelty, and loss.

[Marcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book beautiful and worthwhile but also difficult. If I could give 3.5 stars I would.

[Tianna]

read the states: pennsylvania

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

particularly haunted by Solitary

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another installment of the Homewood Series and worth reading. The novel begins on a plantation and ends with some of the original settlers of Homewood. The bulk of the novel is an exploration of the Wideman family through oral folklore. The narrators change, usually the person in question narrates their own story, covering a long timeline and many aspects of the family.

We are first introduced to Orion, a slave, who is decapitated for exposing himself to the mistress of the house. John French is front and center in this tale. But we are also introduced to Reba Love Jackson, a legend on the gospel circuit. Even covering Tommy on the run after the robbery gone bad.

This is a very impressive collage of an African-American family. Using the perspective of different relatives to tell the story of births, deaths and tragedies, leads to a thorough picture of life in Homewood throughout the decades. There is a dignity in poverty portrayed is this novel.

[Joy Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is poetry put into a story and the characters frightenly real. there is no actual plot but a collection of short stories that make up themes. I did not understand all ofbthe connections but for some reason that was nh favorite part cause it was nice to read something that was so unique I could not predict the characters or the themes but I had to think bout them and reread sections tip they made sense. I really loved the book, but be prepared for language and content. the nature of the book is to paint death in almost everyday descriptions wand the characters are not perfect or entirely nobel

[Mike Lemon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I come to this book as a ghost. I read it for my postmodern American literature class, and frankly, did not understand some of it. However, what I did understand, the importance of remembering the dead, storytelling, and family, comes across beautifully in Wideman's work. As he explores the idea of forging ties to the lost, African American past, Wideman creates an incredible microcosm, Homewood. I highly recommend this book, as well as the documentary "Jack Johnson: Unforgivable Blackness." Both deal with what it means to be a black man in modern America.

[Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It's basically a collage of stories of a family that is the offspring of a runaway slave. All the stories seem to be dealing with how to keep faith in God and goodness in the face of a world where everything is confusing and finding a purpose is never fully possible. Very spiritually enlightening. Loved it.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult to read, and discouraging except for the doggedly-determined. Wideman does a great job of interweaving the lives of Homewood's citizens, as well as incorporating his own life's experiences into the stories.

[Pia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wideman is the consumate storyteller and these stories pulled me in with their ferocious beauty.

[david · Rating 3 out of 5]

so beautiful

[Frankie Frasure · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read! Truly captures the essence of the characters and draws you in to the moment.

[John Watson]

Wideman focuses on lyrical phrasing as he weaves his stories about childhood stories from his home town. Beautifully crafted.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved his lyrical prose, deeply human characters, and strong sense of place. Homewood was vividly created, and I appreciated its small but important victories in the midst of desperation and decay.