"The American situation is very peculiar and it may be without precedent in the world. No curtain under heaven is heavier than that curtain of guilt and lies behind which white Americans hide" (James Baldwin, "White Man's Guilt") One of my earliest James Baldwin reading experiences was "Sonny's Blues," a short story that forms the centerpiece of Going to Meet … Continue reading James Baldwin – Going to Meet the Man and Some Mid-60’s Essays →

The words of "My Dungeon Shook" ring in my ears almost every single day.  Somehow the centerpiece of that ringing is a simple imperative sentence about 3/4 of the way through the final, two-page paragraph: You, don't be afraid. That paragraph, itself, lays out almost every needed inch of the conceptual and emotional terrain needed to make … Continue reading James Baldwin – The Fire Next Time →

Another Country is James Baldwin's third novel, and is is quite a bit longer than Baldwin's first two, maybe even longer than both of them combined.  It's interesting to me that it basically covers a lot of the same ground that his essays of the time do, but does so in the language of fiction.  The reason that's interesting … Continue reading James Baldwin – Another Country →

The greatest takeaway for me from Nobody Knows Your Name is "Fifth Avanue, Uptown: A Letter from Harlem."  In this essay Baldwin explores the phenomenology of police violence - again, if you don't care what I have to say, at least read these words of Baldwin's for yourself [next I'll be reading Another Country, Baldwin's 1962 … Continue reading James Baldwin – Nobody Knows My Name (and some other essays from the early 60’s) →

I was really surprised when I figured out that David, the protagonist of Baldwin's second novel, Giovanni's Room, was white.  The novel never says so directly, but he is described a handful of times as "blonde."  In fact, as far as I could tell, all of the principal characters are white, with the possible exception of … Continue reading James Baldwin – Giovanni’s Room →