Tag Archives: James Baldwin

We Are Everywhere

Above is a template for brief reviews used by the Virginia Quarterly Review in the old days, this one dated 6/19/79, when I, in response to a review copy of a book the VQR sent me, turned in this small … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews & Commentary | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Stranger in the Village: Style and Rage

I, like many others, believe that James Baldwin’s “Stranger in the Village” is the greatest essay ever written in English.  It’s scope, for one, is titanic.  It moves from a story of one black man’s experiences in a Swiss village … Continue reading

Posted in Black Writers, Social Change, Writing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Embracing and Fearing the Void: The Root of Racism

James Baldwin once called America a nation “dedicated to the death of the paradox,” a people particularly fond of the straight-forward answer: the Yes-No, the Black-White, the Just-The-Facts, Ma’am, reply.  Which could make reading Baldwin particularly difficult.  As Raoul Peck, … Continue reading

Posted in Black Writers, Social Change | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment