The last part of Notes of a Native Son is made up of several travel essays Baldwin wrote in Europe - "Encounter on the Seine: Black Meets Brown," an essay about how African Americans see Africans (and vice-versa) in Paris; "A Question of Identity," mostly about white Americans coming to understand themselves while they're in Paris; … Continue reading Notes of a Native Son – Part 3 (of 3)
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Notes of a Native Son – Part 2
...it goes without saying that injustice is a commonplace. But this did not mean that one could be complacent, for the second idea was of equal power: that one must never, in one’s own life, accept these injustices as commonplace but must fight them with all one’s strength. This fight begins, however, in the heart... Part … Continue reading Notes of a Native Son – Part 2
Notes of a Native Son – Part 1
Notes of a Native Son (1955) collects some previously published essays and includes some originally penned for the collection. I have read the eponymous essay ("Notes of a Native Son") with my classes for the last several years, and it's always a powerful reading experience. It's Baldwin at his most directly autobiographical - it's in … Continue reading Notes of a Native Son – Part 1
James Baldwin – Go Tell It on the Mountain
Go Tell It on the Mountain is easy to underestimate, especially if you place it into the too-easy critical category of "semiautobiographical first novel." The first time I read it, a few years ago, I made just that mistake. I spent the whole time tracking the "John" character for what it might tell me about James … Continue reading James Baldwin – Go Tell It on the Mountain
James Baldwin – Earliest Collected Essays on Race, Sexuality and Bad Books
In six early book reviews, Baldwin pans what he sees as second-rate novels. I read these pieces mostly with an eye to seeing trends in Baldwin's views on the questions those novels dealt with more than as reviews per se (especially since I haven't read the novels). I'll pull out a quotation or two from each essay and … Continue reading James Baldwin – Earliest Collected Essays on Race, Sexuality and Bad Books
James Baldwin Summer Reading Project
My woefully monochromatic high school and college education exposed me to nothing that James Baldwin had written - not even to his name. I can remember a friend in college once mentioning him and me pretending that I knew who he was. But several years ago I started reading James Baldwin with my students. I read the first … Continue reading James Baldwin Summer Reading Project
The Novels of Virginia Woolf #10: Between the Acts
“Parsimony may be the end of this book. Also shame at my own verbosity, which comes over me when I see the 20 it is--books shuffled together in my room. Who am I ashamed of? Myself reading them. Then Joyce is dead: Joyce about a fortnight younger than I am. I remember Miss Weaver, in … Continue reading The Novels of Virginia Woolf #10: Between the Acts
The Novels of Virginia Woolf #9: The Years
The big question for me while reading The Years was about whether it’s a reversion to an earlier writing style - something more like a Victorian social novel, or if it’s a step forward in Woolf’s own evolution. The earlier novel of Woolf’s that most resembles this is Night and Day, which is definitely a … Continue reading The Novels of Virginia Woolf #9: The Years
(The Novels of Virginia Woolf #8: Flush)
Not the best-known (or the best) of Woolf's novels, it's also debatable whether it's a novel. Its cover page calls it a "biography," which is strange, especially considering Flush is a cocker spaniel. It was Elizabeth Barrett Browning's dog, one Woolf must have read about in her ongoing attempt, seemingly, to read everything written in … Continue reading (The Novels of Virginia Woolf #8: Flush)
The Novels of Virginia Woolf #7: The Waves
This book is very difficult to write about; below I’ve only just mentioned most of the characters and their myriad interactions. As a matter of subjective perception, I will say this book was the most rewarding to re-read so far. I’ve tried to put some semi-coherent thoughts down here, but there is something extremely reductive … Continue reading The Novels of Virginia Woolf #7: The Waves
Original Positions 