Black Cloud, White Cloud

by Ellen Douglas

A collection of short fiction by the acclaimed author of Can’t Quit You, Baby, in a new edition enhanced with fourteen illustrations by an artist who has grasped the subtle issues in these four stories that explore the intimacy and estrangement between the races in the American South

Genres: Short Stories

260 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Ellen Douglas is the pseudonym for Josephine Haxton, whose family roots extend back to the earliest settlements in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Her fiction has won many prizes, including the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship, the Hillsdale Prize for Fiction from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award.

Reviews

[Synoria D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

If a book takes you through an emotional roller coaster, and causes you to think about it when you are not reading, and to start questioning the motives of the characters as though they were real... then this book was good.

I was really left feeling awkward after reading this book. This book was typical in some aspects of southern authors depicting their views of race relations, but something about this book left me feeling slightly patronized. I don't know if that was the author's intent, but that is the way that I felt.

It is amazing how some people interpret and regurgitate their childhood, and life experiences. Many of the matriarchs in this book seemed to hold themselves to higher regard by employing or keeping their hired help on as one would regard a family pet or mentally challenged individual. I was amazed out how many of these matriarchs entrusted their chidren's lives to their servants, but seemed to repeatedly know nothing about the servant's daily lives. It makes me wonder about my encounters.

The author did a brilliant job showing how tragedy, loneliness, death of a being or relationship extends across the color line.

This book makes me wonder how you really distinguish between patronizing behavior and sincere motives. Sometimes, including myself, I wonder if we are aware that we are the actual perpetrators.

People often say that we are one human race, and all of us are guaranteed one fate when we come into this world. Is the color of skin, monetary status and reputation just a preoccupation of the devil or man to in some way separate each other? If so, how does this factor in at the end? I know that I am guilty of being preoccupied with the wrong things, but this book made me feel ignorant for doing so.

It is amazing how when looking on the outside, we fail to realize that people are suffering. Life rarely has a happy ending, and this book resonated that theme.

In 2013, I still feel like alot of what occurred in the fictional place of Hommochito, MS is happening every day. After finishing this book, I just set there for almost thirty minutes not knowing how to feel. The next day I started to research the author. There is nothing out of the ordinary about her, but her creation is haunting for me.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully descriptive of mid-20th century southern life, particularly black and white relationships. Written from a white perspective, the author provides thick descriptions of culture with an admirable objectivity. In some ways addressing themes similar to "The Help," it is written by someone who clearly lived those times and with a depth and art. When Ellen Douglas writes of an afternoon fishing, you know she's been there and done that. Her strong Mississippi roots and observant details make this a delightful read, light enough to be entertaining but bringing out issues of significant human depth.

A personal touch. Several months ago sitting in jury selection, I chanced to be seated beside "Ellen Douglas'" son. In the course of casual conversation he mentioned his mother was a writer, which is how I discovered this delightful author. She passed away only a few weeks later, but it turns out that she had long associations with Belhaven College, Eudora Welty, etc.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellen Douglas is a native Mississippian (so am I), and the woman can flat out write. She writes up a storm in "Hold On", my favorite story in this collection of stories about personal relationships between blacks and whites, particularly black and white women, in the Deep South.

[Julene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book that also includes drawing with her stories about the fictional town Homochitto, Mississippi, which is in many of her books. Again it is four stories, like her book Truth.