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South Street
From the first startling encounter at Lightnin' Ed's Bar and Grill to the last glimpse of the ghetto from the other side of the river, this novel vibrates with a sense of life so strong, a sense of character so rich, that to read South Street is to be there: there among the lives and half-lives in the black city.
David Bradley's excursion into street life resonates with jive talk and jazz rhythms, tastes of the visceral reality of this corner of America. A young, middle-class black, a would-be "proletarian poet," decides to seek the world of the "people"; and it is among the hookers and hustlers, the winos and the pimps, the conmen and the missionaries that he finds a life threatened by impotence and empty rage, yet charged and invigorated by laughter, brassiness. and pride.
An extraordinary achievement, this rendering of life into words—words charged by the rhythms of the city, fired by the substance of lives lived on a precipitous edge.
David Bradley's excursion into street life resonates with jive talk and jazz rhythms, tastes of the visceral reality of this corner of America. A young, middle-class black, a would-be "proletarian poet," decides to seek the world of the "people"; and it is among the hookers and hustlers, the winos and the pimps, the conmen and the missionaries that he finds a life threatened by impotence and empty rage, yet charged and invigorated by laughter, brassiness. and pride.
An extraordinary achievement, this rendering of life into words—words charged by the rhythms of the city, fired by the substance of lives lived on a precipitous edge.
- GenresFiction
340 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
8 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
David Bradley
2 books26 followersAmerican author (b. 1950) and professor of creative writing who wrote South Street (1975) and The Chaneysville Incident (1981)
Full name is David H. Bradley, Jr.
Do not confuse with the other authors of the same name.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 13, 2011
Brown is an African-American poet in Philadelphia in the late 1960s. Brother Fletcher is a deacon in a South Street church run by a smarmy preacher who takes advantage of his flock, his deacon, and the prettier members of his flock. Charlene is a hooker whose gangster lover pays her not to work so it won't be said that he relies on prostitutes for sex. Leo runs the bar where they all come to watch sports, drink, talk about their problems and to solve some of them, to get into trouble and out of it, to find inspiration, friendship, love, and heartbreak.
This is a story of poor black Philadelphia in a time when so many other ghettos were going up in flames. These people are trying to live their lives and make a living as best they can, watching the outside world with bemusement and wry humor, and their own with contempt, confusion, and even more humor. This book is wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. Like Bradley's other book, THE CHANEYSVILLE INCIDENT, I lent my first copy of this out, and the person liked it so much he stole it from me.
I don't lend Bradley's books to anyone anymore.
This is a story of poor black Philadelphia in a time when so many other ghettos were going up in flames. These people are trying to live their lives and make a living as best they can, watching the outside world with bemusement and wry humor, and their own with contempt, confusion, and even more humor. This book is wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. Like Bradley's other book, THE CHANEYSVILLE INCIDENT, I lent my first copy of this out, and the person liked it so much he stole it from me.
I don't lend Bradley's books to anyone anymore.
April 29, 2017
So textured, so funny. A treasure, a time capsule of a place I know so well--in another era. It's a testament to the quality of this book that I *finished* it, since fiction usually doesn't appeal or keep me through till the end. I was so wrapped up in this book. Once I finished, I even began to re-read from the beginning. (When does that happen?!) I'm sad the author hasn't written more, especially ones set in Philly (considering he lived/taught there for two decades). Finding this book was kismet: set on a rack of free library discards in a town in a state where I don't even reside). I would be thrilled to find out if/when he publishes again, in the meantime, I guess I'll hunt down his essays in academics mags or something.
April 11, 2014
Action descriptions are clumsy at times, and it falls prey to the blatant sexism and homophobia of its time, but all in all a good read. Great dialogue and characterization. Great window into the racial experience of the time, at least in Philly.
October 28, 2023
This novel, published in 1975, takes place not in the famous (at least to Philadelphians) hippie end of South Street, but the poor black neighborhood on the western periphery of Center City. All the main characters are African Americans, most are poor, and some are desperate.
The story revolves around a bar, Lightnin’ Ed’s, where the owner and bartender, Leo, mixes sarcasm and compassion (when not too distracted by soap operas and Phillies games) in conversations with his regulars. There is Rayburn Wallace, a janitor for business executives who is obsessed with keeping his beautiful and lazy wife, Leslie, fearing that she will drop him for a man with money and power. Big Betsy, an elderly prostitute who has lost her physical charms but not her cutting wit and sense of humor. Elmo, a rat faced man who gets banned from the bar for his malicious gossip. Jake, the deaf wino, who considers himself a cut above your average wino, because on occasion he pays more for foreign wine and gives careful consideration to where he sleeps at night. Jake is Leo’s favorite patron, for good reason.
One day a mystery man named Brown enters Lightnin’ Ed’s and challenges Leroy Briggs, the local mobster. The main plot of the book revolves around Brown, who is believed to be connected to white mobsters. Who is Brown? What does he want? Will Briggs have him killed?
A world apart is The Word of Life Church, presided over by the smooth and unscrupulous Rev. J. Peter Sloan. He sends his deputy, Brother Fletcher, to spy on Brown at Lightnin’ Ed’s. Fletcher, who is as decent as Sloan is venal, has no experience in dens of iniquity like bars, and at first cuts a ridiculous figure there. To his surprise, he comes to enjoy and value the social life of the bar, triggering a crisis of faith.
What is outstanding about South Street are the vivid characters and the dense dialogue. There is much wit in the trash talking and joking around, in their rivalries, dilemmas, and camaraderie. And there are a few more interesting people — three sisters, one content with a low level mobster, the other two, fierce rivals, wanting more. And then there is the thug Leroy Briggs and his two underlings, Willie T. and Cotton, whose situation is threatened by Brown. In most cases, the characters are trying to hang on to what they have rather than improve their situation.
The physical environment in this poor community is relentlessly described as grim and grimey. (Don’t things look nicer when there is a blue sky? Not in Bradley’s view). Humor, friendship, personal rivalry, and alcohol help people get by.
I liked the gritty, sometimes poetic writing. There were a few things I didn’t like. Is it really necessary to note Big Betsy’s unattractive body so many times? I got a little tired of the descriptions of vomiting and urination, but maybe that makes sense for characters who are drunk and wandering. I did not find Brown, the mystery man who bridges the worlds of the respectable middle class and the underclass, to be that convincing a character. The plot kind of fizzles, but maybe that does not matter.
Bradley creates a social world, of people struggling, teasing, laughing, competing, and coping, viewed unsentimentally but with sympathy.
The story revolves around a bar, Lightnin’ Ed’s, where the owner and bartender, Leo, mixes sarcasm and compassion (when not too distracted by soap operas and Phillies games) in conversations with his regulars. There is Rayburn Wallace, a janitor for business executives who is obsessed with keeping his beautiful and lazy wife, Leslie, fearing that she will drop him for a man with money and power. Big Betsy, an elderly prostitute who has lost her physical charms but not her cutting wit and sense of humor. Elmo, a rat faced man who gets banned from the bar for his malicious gossip. Jake, the deaf wino, who considers himself a cut above your average wino, because on occasion he pays more for foreign wine and gives careful consideration to where he sleeps at night. Jake is Leo’s favorite patron, for good reason.
One day a mystery man named Brown enters Lightnin’ Ed’s and challenges Leroy Briggs, the local mobster. The main plot of the book revolves around Brown, who is believed to be connected to white mobsters. Who is Brown? What does he want? Will Briggs have him killed?
A world apart is The Word of Life Church, presided over by the smooth and unscrupulous Rev. J. Peter Sloan. He sends his deputy, Brother Fletcher, to spy on Brown at Lightnin’ Ed’s. Fletcher, who is as decent as Sloan is venal, has no experience in dens of iniquity like bars, and at first cuts a ridiculous figure there. To his surprise, he comes to enjoy and value the social life of the bar, triggering a crisis of faith.
What is outstanding about South Street are the vivid characters and the dense dialogue. There is much wit in the trash talking and joking around, in their rivalries, dilemmas, and camaraderie. And there are a few more interesting people — three sisters, one content with a low level mobster, the other two, fierce rivals, wanting more. And then there is the thug Leroy Briggs and his two underlings, Willie T. and Cotton, whose situation is threatened by Brown. In most cases, the characters are trying to hang on to what they have rather than improve their situation.
The physical environment in this poor community is relentlessly described as grim and grimey. (Don’t things look nicer when there is a blue sky? Not in Bradley’s view). Humor, friendship, personal rivalry, and alcohol help people get by.
I liked the gritty, sometimes poetic writing. There were a few things I didn’t like. Is it really necessary to note Big Betsy’s unattractive body so many times? I got a little tired of the descriptions of vomiting and urination, but maybe that makes sense for characters who are drunk and wandering. I did not find Brown, the mystery man who bridges the worlds of the respectable middle class and the underclass, to be that convincing a character. The plot kind of fizzles, but maybe that does not matter.
Bradley creates a social world, of people struggling, teasing, laughing, competing, and coping, viewed unsentimentally but with sympathy.
September 4, 2014
"What about the poems?" I asked in my interview at school. "Oh, god, the poems," Bradley exclaimed. I think he'd been asked about them before....
Had to visit South Street in Phila after reading this. Nice neighborhood.
Had to visit South Street in Phila after reading this. Nice neighborhood.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews