(Some Of) The Life And (Most Of) The Works of James Baldwin
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Any writer, I suppose, feels that the world into which he was born is nothing less
than a conspiracy against the cultivation of his talent."
--James Baldwin, "Autobiographical Notes" from Notes of a Native Son, 1955
James Baldwin himself says little about his childhood, commenting
only that it "is the usual bleak fantasy, and we can dismiss it with the
unrestrained observation that I certainly would not consider living it again."
The eldest of nine children, Baldwin was born in Harlem on August 2, 1922. His
father, an evangelical minister, expected his eldest son to become a minister as
well; by the age of 14, Baldwin was preaching in a church in Harlem.
By 17, Baldwin removed himself from his faith and turned his
talents to literature and writing. Educated mainly in New York, Baldwin worked
at numerous jobs until he was granted a literary fellowship in 1948, allowing
him to travel to France.
In 1953, Baldwin published his first major novel, Go Tell It On
The Mountain. The novel is very autobiographical, depicting the stuggles of
a young boy searching for his identity. Baldwin's clear, precise writing and
powerful story helped him make his name as a writer. Baldwin remained in France
until 1957, when he returned to the States.
One often overlooked part of Baldwin's personal philosophy bears
mentioning here: he was a humanist. Baldwin believed that racism stemmed from
the insecurities of white men, who turned to the blacks as scapegoats for their
own internal feelings of powerlessness. Through his works, Baldwin's arguments
for civil rights transcend colour boundaries and stress the idea that,
regardless of race or culture, we are all human beings, and should all be
treated as such. Though he became increasingly more active and important in the
civil rights movement through his life, he never wanted to be known as a "black
writer," or as a "gay writer," or as any combination of the two. Baldwin simply
wanted to be respected as a writer, period.
During the mid-to-late Fifties and early Sixties, Baldwin wrote
some of his greatest works on this subject. The essay collections Notes Of A
Native Son and Nobody Knows My Name are considered among the most
important literary works of humanistic thought to come out of the civil rights
movement.
Baldwin continued to write plays, criticisms, short stories,
novels, and poetry throughout his life. His final work, The Evidence Of
Things Not Seen (1985) is based on the series of child murders that occurred
in Atlanta in 1979-80.
Baldwin died at his home in St Paul De Vence, France, on November
30, 1987.
Below is what I believe to be a reasonably complete bibliography
of Baldwin's works.
Novels:
Go Tell It On The Mountain, New York,
1953.
Giovanni's Room, New York, 1956.
Another Country, New
York, 1962.
Tell Me How Long The Train's Been Gone, New York,
1968.
If Beale Street Could Talk, New York, 1974.
Just Above My
Head, New York, 1979.
Essays:
Notes Of A Native Son, Boston,
1955.
Nobody Knows My
Name, New York, 1961.
The Fire Next Time, New York,
1963.
The Price Of The Ticket: Collected Non-Fiction, 1948-1985, New
York, 1985.
Poetry:
Jimmy's Blues, London, 1983.
Gypsy
and Other Poems, Nevada City, 1989.
Plays:
The Amen Corner, New York,
1955.
Blues For Mister Charlie, New York, 1964.
Cultural criticism:
No Name In The Street,
London, 1972.
The Devil Finds Work, New York, 1976.
Miscellaneous works:
Going To Meet The Man (short
stories), New York, 1965.
This Morning, This Evening, So Soon (?),
Frankfurt/Main, 1962.
An Open Letter To My Sister, Miss Angela Davis
(?), New York, ca 1970.
Little Man, Little Man: A Story Of
Childhood (children's book), London, 1976.
The Evidence Of Things Not
Seen, New York, 1985.
Collaborations:
The Negro Protest, Boston, 1963,
with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.
Nothing Personal
(photographic eulogy for Medgar Evers), New York, 1964, with Richard
Avedon.
A Rap On Race, Philadelphia, 1971, with Margaret Mead.
A
Dialogue, Philadelphia, 1973, with Nikki Giovanni.
Adaptation:
One Day When I Was Lost, London, 1972
(adapted from Alex Haley's Autobiography of Malcolm X).
Not everything that is faced can be changed,
but nothing
can be changed until it is faced.
-- James Baldwin