The Ballad of the Sad Café [novella]

by Carson McCullers

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Miss Amelias Café ist die einzige Vergnügungsstätte weit und breit. Dort verkauft die unabhängige und starke Frau ihren selbstgebrannten Schnaps, und dort lebt sie mit Vetter Lymon, einem kleinen buckligen Mann, der gar nicht ihr Vetter ist. Dann jedoch kehrt ihr ehemaliger Mann in die Stadt zurück. Eine tragische Dreiecksgeschichte aus den amerikanischen Südstaaten über die im Leben ewig zu kurz Kommenden, über Sehnsucht, Verrat, bittere Enttäuschung und kurzes Glück.

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6 reviews
I'm overwhelmed by McCullers' spelling style and this story. She describs the surroundings rich in details and so vividly that each director wouldn't be able to reproduce it equitably. She inspirits the readers mind to dive into this landscape and the lifes of its protagonists.

Miss Amalia who seems to have a strong personality and is appreciated and redoubtable in equal measure turns out to be a very lonely woman. Therefore she accepts to be mortified by two men. In the beginning it looks like she could be able to turn the tables on them but in the end she gives herself in. Even though there are a lot of people who would like to help her, her ego of independancy won't accept it.

This story makes me pensively because there are still show more thousands of women who have to endure the violence in a partnership and aren't able to break free. show less
½
i was expecting more depth here, even from a work of short fiction, possibly because of my love of the heart is a lonely hunter. it felt like there was something missing here, even as i mostly enjoyed the read. there were a few mistakes throughout (saying there were 7 kids and then having only 6 names, things like that) that i found surprising and a little distracting in so short a novella. she's a truly great writer (although i didn't like the awkward opening section and weird last section, or her decision to talk to the reader as she did) but still wanted more from this. that said, it's a really nice look at her style and her themes, especially shared isolation, that she does so well.
I'm torn on this one. I really liked the first story, but the rest did almost nothing for me.
strange love triangle in southern town--
“Herria bera eskasa da; ezer askorik ez dago han, soilik kotoi fa- brika, langileak bizi diren bi gelako etxeak, mertxikondo bakar batzuk, eliza bat koloretako bi leihorekin eta kale nagusi ziztrin bat ehun yarda besterik ez dena…”. Horrela zabaltzen da Kafe tristearen balada, Carson McCullers-en obrarik ezagunena. Herriaren izena ez da aipatzen, baina ziur aski idazleak bere jaioterria zeukan gogoan lerro horiek idatzi zituenean, zeren eta horrelako leku hits, bakarti, bazterreko batean jaio baitzen Carson McCullers 1917an, Deep South edo Hegoalde Sakoneko Columbus herrian, Georgiako estatuan.
Bajo el título de uno de ellos, La balada del café triste, se agrupan en este libro varios de los relatos más significativos de la singular y sutil narrativa de Carson McCullers, que han accedido ya a la consideración de clásicos de la moderna literatura norteamericana y constituyen incursiones en la silenciosa, secreta y sagrada intimidad del alma de sus personajes.

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94+ Works 22,598 Members
Carson McCullers was born in Columbus, Georgia, on February 19, 1917. She died at age fifty in Nyack, New York, on September 29, 1967. A promising pianist, she had hoped to enroll at the Juilliard School of Music when she was seventeen, but when she arrived in New York, she attended writing classes at Columbia University instead. In December 1936 show more her first story, "Wunderkind," was published in "Story" magazine. That winter she began work on "The Mute," which would become her enduring masterpiece, "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter." (Publisher Provided) Carson McCullers was born Lula Carson Smith on February 19, 1917 in Columbus, Georgia. At the age of seventeen, desiring to become a famous concert pianist, she went to New York City to attend the Julliard School of Music. Her family sacrificed and raised money for her tuition to go to Julliard, but she lost all of her money when she left her pocketbook on the subway. Unable to tell her family what had happened, she took writing classes at Columbia University and New York University from 1935-1936. Her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, was published in 1940. Her other novels included Reflections in a Golden Eye, The Ballad of the Sad Café, The Member of the Wedding, and Clock Without Hands. With the help of Tennessee Williams, The Member of the Wedding was adapted into a play, which won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1950. She died from a stroke and subsequent brain hemorrhage on September 29, 1967at the age of 50. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

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Insel-Bücherei (Nr. 1004/1)

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Common Knowledge

Canonical title
The Ballad of the Sad Café [novella]
Original title
The Ballad of the Sad Café
Original publication date
1951
People/Characters
Miss Amelia; cousin Lymol; Marvin Macy; Henry Macy; Stumpy MacPhail
Important places
Georgia, USA
First words*
Het plaatsje zelf is saai. Het heeft niet veel te bieden, afgezien van een katoenfabriek, de huisjes waar de arbeiders wonen, wat perzikbomen, een kerk met twee brandgeschilderde ramen en een troosteloze hoofdstraat van nog g... (show all)een honderd meter lang.
Quotations*
Verveling vreet aan de ziel.
Original language
English
Disambiguation notice
Dramatization of the short story by Edward Albee
This is the short story "The Ballad of the Sad Café" only; please don't combine with any story collections!
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.

Classifications

Genres
General Fiction, Fiction and Literature
DDC/MDS
823Literature & rhetoricEnglish & Old English literaturesEnglish fiction
LCC
PS3525 .A6Language and LiteratureAmerican literatureAmerican literatureIndividual authors1900-1960

Statistics

Members
200
Popularity
162,784
Reviews
6
Rating
(3.94)
Languages
8 — Catalan, Dutch, English, French, German, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
17
ASINs
6