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 →

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) →

...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 (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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →