Walk in the Night and Other Stories

by Alex la Guma

144pages. poche. Broché.

Genres: Short Stories, Africa, Fiction, South Africa, School, Classics, Historical Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Alex la Guma was a South African novelist, leader of the South African Coloured People's Organisation (SACPO) and a defendant in the Treason Trial, whose works helped characterise the movement against the apartheid era in South Africa. La Guma's vivid style, distinctive dialogue, and realistic, sympathetic portrayal of oppressed groups have made him one of the most notable South African writers of the 20th century. La Guma was awarded the 1969 Lotus Prize for Literature.

Reviews

[Amit Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A walk in the night is the first novel of Alex la Guma, a short, accomplished story about the Capetown slum, district six, which it evokes vividly in terse spare descriptions. The novel engraves the iniquities of apartheid in the scrupulously detailed language of realism.

[Moses Kilolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to an unusual insomnia on my part last night, I read this through. The story of one Michael Adonis and an acquintance Willeyboy, it covers such themes as police brutality, social discrimination, crime, poverty, etc etc. it is a wonderful piece, really interesting, except that I felt the description as slightly overdone. I guess this was written during the days of apartheid, because the theme is so central to the story.

[Zee Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sad tale of police brutality and crime in a racist, low income environment which results in nothing but death and pain.

[Khadija · Rating 4 out of 5]

Few days ago we lost a great man who sacrificed and made his utmost efforts to help achieve the freedom and liberation of a whole black nation in South Africa, without mentioning his name, I do believe most of you realize that I'm talking about the late Nelson Mandela. Given that I live in Africa, the continent, I noticed that my knowledge about its Literature is very limited. For that reason, I decided to read a variety of works from east west north and south Africa.

A Walk in The Night and Other Stories was written by the South African Alex La Guma. With his vivid realistic description of the people, the slums and the city of Cape Town, you will be caught up in that tragic dark world, live and sense it as well. Within the book, Alex tackles the issue of racism, Apartheid,violence, poverty and other social problems the people of South Africa suffered from for decades.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

A glimpse at the conditions of life under the cruel and brutal apartheid regime in Cape Town. The lead short story here (four stars) is the most fully realised but the whole collection offers atmospheric vignettes into the horrors that colonialism and its legacy brought to South Africa. I’d never heard of Alex La Guma but he’s regarded as highly as Chinua Achebe.

Favourite chapter opening: ‘In the dark a scrap of cloud struggled along the edge of Table Mountain, clawed at the rocks for a foothold, was torn away by the breeze that came in from the south-east, and disappeared.’

[Oleksandr Fediienko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Добре, але коротко. Інакше було би блукання і вночі, і зранку, і вдень...
Майкла Едоніса звільняють за сварку з білим начальником. Ці бури його вже дістали, але нічого не вдієш: тепер перед ним майорить непевне майбутнє. Здається, кожна подія цього вечора поспішає поперед інших довести його до ручки. Таке вже життя у чорного чоловіка в нетрях Кейптауна часів апартеїду.
Говорити більше - все одно що спойлерити. Просто скажу, що автору вдалося неймовірно влучно описати вуличне життя - злочинців, жебраків, голод, пиятику, свавілля поліції, страхи простого люду.

[Gert Dronkers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een kleine honderd pagina's complete uitzichtloosheid met een sausje van film noir en een narratieve kaalheid die naast rauw ook verfrissend aanvoelt. Absolute aanrader.

[A.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't have strong feelings either way about this book. It's a story about anger and apartheid. Characters stuck in a grimy South African world suffer and simmer and stew. The bloodshed doesn't begin in earnest during the time period in which the story is set, but as a Preview of Coming Attractions this novella opens up the psyche of an oppressed and despairing people.

The prose is okay. I'm a limited-description sort of guy, and sometimes this story is a few adjectives short of fully capturing Montana in the fall. Sometimes storylines sound pretty simple when they're broken down to their actual plot points; such would be the case here. It's a character story, not something that's going to get talked about in Camelot. Human rights and ongoing personal tragedy are on display.

I'd take a pass on this unless you're just that interested. I guess the best way to describe this is a book that fulfills its purpose, but its purpose isn't grandiose. Entertainment value is fairly limited and considering the subject matter, there are ways to take a story set in this scenario that might've amped up the reader's emotional reaction. As it is, three stars.

[Marie :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

NOTE I only read the first story on this collection:

A WALK IN THE NIGHT: 3 stars?? 3.5

In simple terms: I appreciate what he did I just didn’t really like it.

I liked the style switching between perspectives and characters and it taught me about the dynamic happening in South Africa during apartheid, but it wasn’t really enjoyable. Not that this story really should be because it’s messed up but I didn’t really connect with or like any of the characters. They all do and say awful things. There’s also this anger surrounding everyone. It was just a really heavy book. I could feel bad distantly in the way that this stuff was bad but I wasn’t really hurting for these characters, just for the fact that I know these situations happened in real life to real people.

So all in all it was okay??? I would recommend for African literature, it was enjoyable, it just didn’t really grab me or make me care about any of the characters. I think analyzing it in class made me appreciate it more which is weird cause usually that ruins the book for me.

[Gpickle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent writing and very serious material. The first (and longest) story weaves together multiple characters in rapid succession but spends enough time with each to give a powerful view of where they are coming from and where they might be headed. Excellent dialog, even with lots of (dated) South African slang. A sad story that rings true.

The other stories in the book were much shorter, a couple of them were just a few pages. One (At the Portagee's) was even lighthearted.

Tattoo Marks and Nails could have been 1 page longer, or even just a paragraph for me. Great imagery and descriptions from that story:

The heat in the cell was solid.
Yellow sand and yellow sky. Man,just sand and sky and some thorn bushes.
We used to cut slices off the heat, put them on our biscuits and make toast.

All in all a very well written and thought provoking collection.

[Stephanie Willing · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's so much world literature that I have missed out on, and reading Alex la Guma's South African fiction was a reminder that there is so much I need to seek out. I read it as part of the "Literary Homage" seminar I took with Tony Eprile at Lesley University. It's a retelling, if you will, of Hamlet. Claudius is played by colonialism, and all of District 6 is the usurped prince. The writing is specific and steady, a regular pulse of contained rage. Characters are described physically in such detail that you feel like you could recognize them if you saw them on the street. Highly recommend, although it's not an easy read.

Also, there's such a direct parallel to Freddie Gray that it really makes you wonder if the world has gotten any better since this was published in the 1960's. Doesn't seem like it.

[Prince Mondise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved a short story 'Blankets' by Alex La Guma two years ago, in my English Literature class, taught by Professor David Medalie (who is a writer himself; and whose short story The Mistress's Dog inspired my first published story in print by University of Pretoria's Inclinations in 2017). After analyzing that story, I became interested and curious to known about his other works. This collection of stories and a novelette (A Walk in the Night) proves La Guma to be one of South Africa's brightest storytellers, tackling many issues - including that of race (racist South Africa in the 1950s particularly, after the rise of draconian apartheid regime) in an almost subtle but powerful way. I missed the points addressed by others stories, for La Guma writes subtly. Even 'Blankets' tells a powerful story, which you can miss if you are not too careful to read 'between the lines'.

[Katie Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

stories from south africa, read this in college and didn't really get it. trying again. so far i like the contrast of protagonist's inner life, seething resentment, and the bustle and chatter of the city swirling around him.
After finishing it, there are some technical lapses but the novella length title story manages to include most of the themes in literature of oppressed peoples and not get treacly or didactic. YOu can really see how the situations of apartheid make discussions of a humanistic morality problematic, almost irrelevant.
I also really liked the short story about a make believe dinner.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The pub, like pubs all over the world, was a place for debate and discussion, for the exchange of views and opinions, for argument and for the working out of problems. It was a forum, a parliament, a fountain of wisdom and a cesspool of nonsense, it was a center for the lost and the despairing, where cowards absorbed dutch courage out of small glasses and leaned against the shiny, scratched and polished mahogany counter for support against the crushing burdens of insignificant lives. Where the disillusioned gained temporary hope, where acts of kindness were considered and murders planned.”

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a powerful and evocative book. It is essentially one long story about one existential night in the life of a powerless black man in South Africa. He gets fired from his job for talking back to his white boss. The writing is raw and electric. The night is full of normal adventures that take on a tragic tone in light of his proscribed circumstances. How does one be a man in a world where authority denies you respect? You drink, curse, fight and maybe turn to crime.

[James F · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novella set in the slums of Cape Town and six very short stories, all written in a stark realistic style, but with many arresting metaphors and similes; taken together, they give a good idea of life under the apartheid regime during the early sixties. La Guma is one of the best known novelists of South Africa; I read his In the Fog of the Season's End some thirty-five years ago, a similar book although I don't remember many details.

[missy jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novella is devastating and the short stories are powerful. I really enjoyed this book. (Actually, I'm not sure if "enjoyed" is the right word--it is full of sadness and injustice--but I am glad I read it. We'll put it that way.)

[Vernin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an nice collection of stories written from within the gritty context of latter 21st century South Africa. A solid diversion from the common style of US non-fiction and worth a try for anyone appreciating African writers.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that made me want to study African lit.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

my intro to the rich and precious world of african lit (thanks, lowell)--

[Lindsey Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gritty, raw, human collection of short stories about poverty, racism, violence, despair, and self-reflection and identification. Alex La Guma is a master storyteller.

[hh · Rating 3 out of 5]

i wouldn't call this enjoyable, but these stories are finely crafted and i'm glad they came into my life. thanks tony eprile.

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

(Rating is only for The Lemon Orchard.)

[Jazzie Orth]

good

[Noureddine El Ajouri · Rating 5 out of 5]

■ [Blankets]

I) Literary elements:

1. The story: Choker, a man carried up to a yard at night after he had knifed three times. Someone threw a dirty blanket on him. Then flashbacks of memories linked to blankets start to appear in his mind one by one, before the ambulance came late in the early morning to carry him to hospital.

2. Characters:
• Round character: Choker
• Flat characters: the cap/attendants

3. Plot:

• Exposition: the author begins to describe the setting when the story takes place, and the situation of choker who was laying down in the yard.

• Rising action: Choker begins to hear some sort of clatter voices of people discussing him. He opens his eyes to see a crowd of people surrounding him.

• Climax: Somebody in the crowd threw an old, dirty blanket over the stabbed Choker. The flashbacks of his miserable past appeared in his mind after he had inspected the torn blanket.

• Falling action: The sun rises up, and ambulance finally arrives, and one of the attendants asked Choker if he felt any pain.

• Resolution: Choker was carried in the ambulance and covered with a new warm blanket.

4. Setting:
• Place: Yard
• Time: night / early morning

5. Point of view: Omniscient ( the Narrator doesn’t take place in the story and uses the third person to narrate the story)

II) Literary devices:

1. Title: The title is linked to the story. Blankets are used by everyone, all the classes of society, but in the story we do not deal with any type of blankets, dirty, thin and smelled blankets reflect poverty, especially the noticed selfishness by refusing to share blankets. The author here uses the term blankets to link among past and present events.

2. Names of characters:

• Choker: the name has several meanings and I think it was chosen carefully by the author to reflect a hidden message, which is how some circumstances lead a person to act subconsciously. As long as Choker means someone who is killed by strangling, we see the same image in the story, a man is strangled by pain and the environment surrounds him. Also, the term Choker means an unfortunate person who is unable to perform effectively because of nervous tension or agitation. Moreover, the general meaning is close-fitting necklaces worn around the neck. It can be made of a variety of materials. In the story we dealt with some sort of hard times which play as a necklace in Choker's neck, such as poverty, selfishness, ignorance.

3. Motif: Blankets is repeated in the story, not any blankets, but the worn, dirty unwashed ones. Every flashback in the story is linked with the same blanket. Choker was familiar with that blanket even in his childhood (a boy used to share a blanket with his brother), prison (a guard chose a blanket for him, which means he had no choice and he was not in his own home) and as an adult man (sharing a blanket with a woman and a baby sleeping in a bathtub). Blankets reflect how Choker was, a poor man lives in misery, stabbed several times in revenge, attended prison, may of his involvement in crime. (Poverty is evil, and can lead to evil)

4. DE-FAMILIARIZATION: Through the name of the main character (Choker), the writer wants to show us how the government in South Africa then controls people by starving them. The hunger seems like a necklace. Through (the blankets), he shows us how poverty breeds violence and creates a selfish society that fights each other to survive, instead of gathering to face the conditions that made them in that situation. Through (the flashbacks), how Africans born, live and die poorly without any simplest conditions of life.
___________________________________________


■ [The Gladiators]

I ) Literary elements:

1) The story: The story begins with describing feelings of fear and anxiety expressed by the narrator about Keeny who is described as an aggressive reckless person, moreover, his selfish and narcissistic manner in how he traits with him. They have started to debate the case until the perms end. Nour Abbas announced the start of the game by ringing the bell. Keeny gets surprised by a strong hit in his face from the Black panther, that is after many tries to hit and get the Black Panther down. In the final round, Black Panther hit Keeny many times in his whole face, which made Kenny lose the game. Black Panther won the game. Keeny lost and went out of the ring in a very agitated state.

2) The plot:

• Exposition: The story begins with describing feelings of fear and anxiety expressed by the narrator and Gogs about Keeny who is described as an aggressive reckless person, moreover, his selfish and narcissistic manner in how he traits with them. They have started to debate the case until the perms end.

• Rising actions: Keeny's anger increases، and he begins to rash after Nour Abbas announced the start of the game by ringing the bell

• Climax: Keeny gets surprised by a strong hit in his face from the Black panther, that is after many tries to hit and get the Black Panther down.

• Falling actions: At the end of the sixth round, Black Panther hit Keeny many times in his whole face, which made Kenny lose the game.

• Resolution: Panther’s boy won the game. Keeny lost and went out of the ring in a very agitated state.

3) The characters:

• Round character:

-keeny

• Flat characters:

- The Narrator
- Black Panther
- Farny
- Gogs
- Noor Abbas

4) The setting:

• Place: Boxing Gym / Wrestling ring

• Time : Night

5) The point of view:

• Explicit (The Narrator takes place in the story)

II ) Literary devices:

1) The title:

The title is linked to the story after a historical event. In the time of the Roman Empire, a gladiator was a man who had to fight against other men or wild animals in order to entertain an audience. So the title of the story is in plural form which is (Gladiators). It shows us that two boxers (black people) are fighting each other probably until death in order to get the audience (white people and superior Africans) who don’t care, amused.

2) The names of characters:

• The Narrator: a coloured man who had the role as a trainer of Keeny. Despite that, he wasn’t thinking like keeny. He claimed that the important thing is to trait like a sporter, the racial difference doesn’t make sense.

• Gogs: a man named Gogs because he was wearing glasses. The term "Gogs" is used as a reference to any person that has any type of glasses or visual gear. It is usually yelled as a quick statement with the purpose of diminishing the person's security, therefore causing them to feel insecure about their eye wear. The man in the story claimed that even the blacks or the coloured ones, they are all treated the same by white people and superior Africans.

• Keeny: a man who thinks his himself is superior to Africans, his feelings of superiority and his arrogant personality did not deny him losing the game.

• Black Panther: a native African boxer who is described in the story as a good boy. The character had a crucial role to help us as readers know how vanity and haste can lead to loss.

• Noor Abbas: a rich man who was the promoter of the game.

3) The motif:

Keeny thought he would win through talking. He was named by the narrator as a boy not keeny. Here we understand that the narrator wants to show keeny as an arrogant and immature boxer.

4) Defamiliarization:

The gladiators should fight the people and conditions which made them in that lower case instead of fighting each other.

5) Language:

The story is written in incorrect English, and it reflects how native African people use the language. English was learned by Africans by force because of colonization. So they africanised it, which meant they made their own English. and it's a kind of resistance.
___________________________________________

■[At the Portagee's]

1) The story:

The story takes place in a cafe. Two friends were discussing how to attract two women who were sitting opposite them. A poor man attended the cafe and asked the narrator for sixpence, which wouldn't be enough to buy food, which made the cafe owner kick the poor man out. The narrator and his friend bought the two women a drink and succeeded in setting a date with them the same day, then they left to prepare themselves for the date.

2) The plot:

• Exposition: A discussion between the narrator and his friend Banjo on how to attract two women who were sitting near to them.

• Rising action: A man attended the cafe asking the narrator for sixpence, so he decided to give him what he was asking.

• Climax: The Portagee was yelling at the poor man, stating that sixpence was not enough to buy food. The portagee was trying to kick out the homeless because of his poverty.

• Falling action: The poor man chose to leave the cafe, and stated that there is no reason to cause all that chaos about some food.

• Resolution: The Narrator, Banjo, Heilda and Dolores left the cafe restaurant after they scheduled a meeting at 7 o’clock at a different place.

3) The characters:

• Round character:
- The man (protagonist)

• Flat characters:
- The portagee
- The Narrator
- Banjo
- Heilda
- Dolores

4) The setting:

• Time:
- General: Summer / after colonization
- Specific: Late afternoon

• Place:
- General: South Africa
- Specific: Cafe restaurant

5) The point of view:
the Narrator takes place in the story

II. Literary devices:

1. The title

The title of the story is chosen carefully by the author because it makes the reader predict what the story is about. So in title ( at the portagee’s), we noticed that it begins with determinate of position or location (at), also a ('s) of possession at the end of title. As long as (At) and ('s) refers to place, that is to say that the events in the story happened in a place which is a cafe owned by the portagee, so the event should be linked to the cafe and its owner. We discovered while reading the story that the title will be like this (at the portagee’s cafe).

2. The names of characters:

The author does not choose the names of characters in a random manner; rather, he picks names that reflect the content of the story and sends a hidden message through them. For example:

• Portagee: contains two words which are ( porto- portal), the term used to name someone carrying something or serving people. and (Portuguese) refers to nationality, which means that the cafe owner is not native, rather, he is a man who decided to stay in South Africa after colonisation and runs a business.

• The narrator: his name is still hidden, however his fact in the story is that he is a man who is generous because he gives some charity to the homeless.

• Banjo: in fact, the term is a musical instrument. The author here wants to tell us that Banjo in person is fat and has a shape like the musical instrument itself.

• Dolores: is used to name girls. In middle English, the term used to express pain and grief, it derives from the Latin term dolour, which is a mass noun.

• Heilda : is a term that means warrior, and it's used by the people in South America.

• The man: has no name, no money and no value, which reflects how capitalism gives value to just those who own money.

3. The Motif:

The events in any story revolve around a conflict between good and evil. So in the story “At the Portagee’s” by Alex La Guma, the guiding idea is just characters and events.

• There are characters which are NORMAL: two men and two women reflect the sexual desires of human beings which drive to evil (wasting of money and time).

• There is a character who is ABNORMAL: a thin, dirty man with no money attending the cafe asking for sixpence in order for some food, so he wants to survive, which is something good.

_________________________________________

■[Tattoo Marks and Nails]

1) Story :

The story begins by describing a crowded cell filled with prisoners who have various crimes. There was a prisoner named Ahmed the Turk, and in another corner of the cell, there was a gangster named the Creature. He was brutalizing a man, claiming that the new prisoner had killed his brother, and he recognized him with a tattoo on his chest. Ahmed the Turk asked the Creature to stop punishing the poor man, so the Creature and Ahmed began to discuss the matter until things turned out that the Creature asked Ahmed to take his shirt off.

2) Plot:

• The exposition:

The story is narrated by describing a crowded cell full of prisoners with different crimes. The narrator met a Turkish man prisoner who was called Ahmed.

• Rising action:

the Creature recognized the killer of his brother by a tattoo on his chest. The killer had just arrived at the cell as a prisoner that morning.

• Climax:

Ahmed the turk shots at the Creature asking him to stop persecuting the newcomer.

• Falling action:

Ahmed the Turk and the Creature are debating the case.

• Resolution:

the Creature askes ahmed to take off the shirt.

3) Characters:

• Round character: Ahmed the Turk

• Flat characters: The Narrator / The Creature /New prisoner

4) Setting:

• Place:

- General: South Africa
- Specific: cell / prison

• Time:

- General: summer
- Specific: weekend/ early afternoon

5) Point of view:
(the Narrator is a part of the story)

[Esteban · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the majority of its stories, especially the novella "A walk in the night", I think Tarantino should do a movie about it -and some of the other stories-, I can really relate it to his style. The author's style is mostly raw, although there are some passages on which he intends to make some metaphors out of either a situation or a place (built by a series of nouns) that didn't quite help for such composition, yes it is intended to sound poetic, yet it seems misplaced -at least for me- on the narration.

Although I expected more manichaeism from the author, it wasn't so, the characters seem credible and they lack of that patronizing or militant tone (given its time and age), of course it has its doze of social commentary (as it was expected). Most of the other stories do not seem to lead anywhere in particular or have a clear idea exposed, yet I can conclude that, given the scenario, you couldn't expect anything else.

[Nikhil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title story is a clear, standout; the rest of the stories are less good.

A walk in the night is a claustrophobic, grimy story about the confinement and filth of a poor, over-policed slum on a single night. The story is a perfect example of the “tautology at the heart of the colonial experience:” a cop shoots a Black man because he is Black, he is Black because a cop shots him. It’s perfectly paced, nauseating in its descriptions of poverty, and articulates how the individuals living within a violent apartheid system displace that violence on those more helpless around them.

Notable too is how the villainous, apartheid cop who shoots a man without provocation and callously lets him bleed to death to satisfy his fascistic, mysogynistic rage behaves no differently than US cops today. It’s the same damn story.

[Nefertiti Fenison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reminds me a little of Richard Wright's Native Son but in a South African context. La Guma has painted a bleak portrait of how racism could rear its ugly head. Perceptive readers would be able to draw connections between the Cape Town portrayed in this story and the contemporary United States struggling with police brutality. This is an important read for those who seek to further understand politics of apartheid.

[Jifu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grabbed this off the shelf of a bookstore on a whim, having never heard of the title or its author before. When I finally decided to sit down and it a try, within minutes I was almost effortlessly transported away to 1960's Capetown, in all of its many layers of injustices and their far-rippling effects stacked thickly and vividly atop one another. Having devoured it in the span of an afternoon, I'm not quite enthusiastic about tracking down la Guma's other works as soon as possible.

[Harry Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set early apartheid, whilst the grit of these stories felt real, I got tangled in too many adjectives and metaphors, which detracted from how emotive this book could have been given its historical setting. Favourite story: the lemon orchard.