Among the Blacks [Paperback]

Raymond Roussel (Author), Ron Padgett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1988

Fiction. African American Studies. Translated from the French. AMONG THE BLACKS consists of two works: Ron Padgett's translation of Raymond Roussel's early story "Parmi les noirs," first published in 1935 in his book Comment j'ai ecrit certain de mes livres, together with Padgett's memoir focusing upon his own experience among black people. Roussel's story, about a master mariner named White who encounters an African chief named Booltable, is built upon the kind of whimsical and extravagant word play (its first and last sentences are identical except for one letter in one word--"pooltable"/ "Booltable") for which Roussel was idolized by the French Surrealists. In contrast, as he writes in his Afterword, Padgett's memoir "grew out of the nagging need to come to grips with the frustrations of being a white American who had grown up in a racist environment and who, despite his rejections of racism at an early age, had rarely felt unselfconscious in the company of a black person." "What he leaves us with is a work that is like the perfectly preserved temple of a cult which has disappeared without a trace, or a complicated set of tools whose use cannot be discovered. But even though we may never be able to 'use' [Roussel's] work in the way he hoped, we can still admire its inhuman beauty, and be stirred by a language that seems always on the point of revealing its secret, of pointing the way back to the 'republic of dreams' whose insignia blazed on his forehead"--John Ashbery.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Raymond Roussel, or genius in the pure state." -- Jean Cocteau

Language Notes

Text: English, French

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Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Avenue B (October 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0939691027
• ISBN-13: 978-0939691029
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,462,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Padgett's & Roussel's Blacks, February 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Among the Blacks (Paperback)

Among the Blacks consists of two works: Padgett's translation of Roussel's early story "parmi les noirs," first published in 1935 in his book Comment j'ai écrit certain de mes livres, together with Padgett's memoir focusing upon his own experience among black people. Roussel's story, about a master mariner named White who encounters an African chief named Booltable, is built upon the kind of whimsical and extravagant word play (its first and last sentences are identical except for one letter in one word -- "pooltable" / "Booltable") for which Roussel was idolized by the French Surrealists. In contrast, as he writes in his Afterword, Padgett's memoir "grew out of the nagging need to come to grips with the frustrations of being a white American who had grown up in a racist environment and who, despite his rejections of racism at an early age, had rarely felt unselfconscious in the company of a black person." Its language is transparent and unmannered, "an attempt somply to tell the trutgh, and to do so with a minimum of artfulness."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars for Raymond's part.. NO stars for Padgett, February 5, 2007

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J. Krall "Horror/Bizarro/Noir Author" (Noir Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Among the Blacks (Paperback)

I'm not sure what the strategy was.. Maybe Roussel's story was so small, the publishers know they couldn't release it on its own and so had Padgett write an unrelated story with the TINIEST bit of similar ideas (oh, Roussel's character is among black people albeit in a surreal, twisted story.. I think Padgett should have a dry memoir about being around black people.. Hmm.. yeah that fits!). Disregard Padgett's self-absorbed story and just read Roussel's. It's a pretty fevered account of proto-surrealism.