JAMES BALDWIN By William Stoltz

Basic Information Born August 2, 1924 Died December 1, 1987 Born in Harlem, NY Died in Saint-Paul de Vence, France Baldwin was an accomplished Novelist, Poet, Playwright. Subject matter usually revolved around race, sex, class issues within the 20 th century. Established a reputation as a critic of social issues. “All art is a kind of confession.”

Background Grew up the step-son of a preacher, who was very strict and passionately religious. Never really felt connected to his family, took up reading as a means of escape. Editor of High School Newspaper Admitted to writing in an “attempt to be loved.”

Important Works Essay books: Notes of a Native Son (1955) Nobody Knows My Name (1961) Full-Length Essays: The Fire Next time (1963) No Name in the Street (1972) The Devil Finds Work (1976) Novels published: Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) Giovanni’s Room (1956) Another Country (1962)

Stranger in the Village (1949) Follows his life in Switzerland Lived in a very small village, approximately 600 people. Most villagers had never seen a black man before because of how isolated the village is No matter how close he gets with villagers still just seen as a “Stranger in the Village” Discusses differences of being a black man in America and in Europe.

Notes of a Native Son (1955) First Non-Fiction book published by Baldwin 3 Part novel, varying themes. Part 1 About past black authors, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe and Richard Wright. Says that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is too “preachy” and doesn’t deal with the important issues. Richard Wright’s Native Son reinforces negative stereotypes against black people with Bigger Thomas being everything that white folk fear in black people

Notes of a Native Son (1955) Part 2 The Harlem Ghetto It isn’t cheap to live in Harlem Black Press basically just a copy of the White Press Growing Anti-Semitism within black community for Jews being white/richer Notes of a Native Son Discusses segregation and Baldwins’ life experiences dealing with it. His father’s death comes up, discusses negative feelings for his father and attempts to dismiss them

Notes of a Native Son (1955) Part 3 Encounter on the Seine: Blacks Meets Brown Differences between Black Americans and Black people living in France mainly ties to the country itself opposed to the history that Black Americans are still in the process of writing. Other essays within Part 3 discuss similar subject matter, how Black Americans/Americans acclimate to living in Europe (Specifically France/Paris), and the everyday life that is involved with living in places so fundamentally different than America.

Sonny’s Blues (1957) Follows the story of the narrator’s younger brother (Sonny) Caught in a heroin bust. Drops out of school, joins the navy Sonny aspires to be a jazz musician, eventually becomes a popular player at a jazz club. Music is Sonny’s “cure” for his painful life.

Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) First novel, also most famous. Semi-Autobiographical Major religious undertones, directly mentioned or referred to within the book. Themes of bisexuality and homosexuality, however subtle. Mainly a literary adaptation of Baldwin’s life with Bible verses and stories mixed in, pivotal points of his life integrated with fictional material.

Giovanni’s Room (1956) About a Homosexual American living in Paris. Explores the relationships between the main character and other men. Specifically about relationship with man named Giovanni, for whom the book is named. Internal conflicts over whether one is actually homosexual or not. Seen as a defining novel for the author as it makes Baldwins’ feelings relatively apparent. Seen as both a bisexual novel and a homosexual one.

Social/Political Activism Wrote about the Civil Rights Movement, staunch supporter of desegregation. Did a tour through the country giving lectures to students and anyone that would listen. Ended up on the cover of Time Magazine on May 17 th issue. Appeared at the Civil Rights March on Washington D.C. Aligned with Malclom X in that he did not think himself as a member of the civil rights movement but rather “If one is a citizen, one should not have to fight for one’s civil rights”

Legacy Works still published in anthologies. National James Baldwin Literary Society Celebrates his life through events in Baltimore. On many top 100 list of Greatest Writers James Baldwin Scholars Program Hampshire College urban outreach initiative

Sources s-baldwin/about-the-author/59/ s-baldwin/about-the-author/59/ The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Second Edition (for basic information)