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Notes of a Native Son
Since its original publication in 1955, this first nonfiction collection of essays by James Baldwin remains an American classic. His impassioned essays on life in Harlem, the protest novel, movies, and African Americans abroad are as powerful today as when they were first written.
--back cover
--back cover
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1955
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About the author
James Baldwin
405books15.3kfollowersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the ŷ database with this name.
Works of American writer James Arthur Baldwin, outspoken critic of racism, include Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), a novel, and Notes of a Native Son (1955), a collection of essays.
James Arthur Baldwin authored plays and poems in society.
He came as the eldest of nine children; his stepfather served as a minister. At 14 years of age in 1938, Baldwin preached at the small fireside Pentecostal church in Harlem. From religion in the early 1940s, he transferred his faith to literature with the still evident impassioned cadences of black churches. From 1948, Baldwin made his home primarily in the south of France but often returned to the United States of America to lecture or to teach.
In his Giovanni's Room, a white American expatriate must come to terms with his homosexuality. In 1957, he began spending half of each year in city of New York.
James Baldwin offered a vital literary voice during the era of civil rights activism in the 1950s and 1960s.
He first partially autobiographically accounted his youth. His influential Nobody Knows My Name and The Fire Next Time informed a large white audience. Another Country talks about gay sexual tensions among intellectuals of New York. Segments of the black nationalist community savaged his gay themes. Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panthers stated the Baldwin displayed an "agonizing, total hatred of blacks." People produced Blues for Mister Charlie , play of Baldwin, in 1964. Huey Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, defended Baldwin.
Going to Meet the Man and Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone provided powerful descriptions. He as an openly gay man increasingly in condemned discrimination against lesbian persons.
From stomach cancer, Baldwin died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France. People buried his body at the Ferncliff cemetery in Hartsdale near city of New York.
Works of American writer James Arthur Baldwin, outspoken critic of racism, include Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), a novel, and Notes of a Native Son (1955), a collection of essays.
James Arthur Baldwin authored plays and poems in society.
He came as the eldest of nine children; his stepfather served as a minister. At 14 years of age in 1938, Baldwin preached at the small fireside Pentecostal church in Harlem. From religion in the early 1940s, he transferred his faith to literature with the still evident impassioned cadences of black churches. From 1948, Baldwin made his home primarily in the south of France but often returned to the United States of America to lecture or to teach.
In his Giovanni's Room, a white American expatriate must come to terms with his homosexuality. In 1957, he began spending half of each year in city of New York.
James Baldwin offered a vital literary voice during the era of civil rights activism in the 1950s and 1960s.
He first partially autobiographically accounted his youth. His influential Nobody Knows My Name and The Fire Next Time informed a large white audience. Another Country talks about gay sexual tensions among intellectuals of New York. Segments of the black nationalist community savaged his gay themes. Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panthers stated the Baldwin displayed an "agonizing, total hatred of blacks." People produced Blues for Mister Charlie , play of Baldwin, in 1964. Huey Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, defended Baldwin.
Going to Meet the Man and Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone provided powerful descriptions. He as an openly gay man increasingly in condemned discrimination against lesbian persons.
From stomach cancer, Baldwin died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France. People buried his body at the Ferncliff cemetery in Hartsdale near city of New York.
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February 26, 2014
“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, Notes of a Native Son
James Baldwin was a fascinating and eloquent man, one who I would have loved to have had a conversation with. His insights into racial issues are truly phenomenal.
This is a collection of short essays about Baldwin's experience with race. In the first three essays Baldwin critiques various books and movies on black culture that he believes do the race a disservice. In the 1950s when black representation was relatively low in both literature and film, I would assume that most black people would have been glad just to see themselves in print and on film;however, Baldwin talks about how misrepresentation is just as damaging as non-representation. I admire him a lot for that.
The other essays go into the black experience in the States and in Europe. One thing he said about his experiences in a small village in Switzerland was truly profound:
“I thought of white men arriving for the first time in an African village, strangers there, as I am a stranger here, and tried to imagine the astounded populace touching their hair and marveling at the color of their skin. But there is a great difference between being the first white man to be seen by Africans and being the first black man to be seen by whites. The white man takes the astonishment as tribute, for he arrives to conquer and to convert the natives, whose inferiority in relation to himself is not even to be questioned; whereas I, without a thought of conquest, find myself among a people whose culture controls me, has even, in a sense, created me, people who have cost me more in anguish and rage than they will ever know�
My favourite essay in this book was probably the titular one, Notes of a Native Son. It was heartbreaking and touching. I've read "Go Tell it on the Mountain" and I detested Baldwin's father. However, after reading this essay, my perception has changed a little. I still found the father unlikeable but now I'm appreciating how difficult it must have been for a black man, an authoritative one trying to raise his family in a society in which all his hard work accounts for next to nothing, a society in which he is the king at home and is considered a "boy" in the white world. I could tell that Baldwin was trying to understand and forgive his father, and let go of his anger; it was truly touching:
“� I did not want to see him because I hated him. But this was not true. It was only that I had hated him and I wanted to hold on to this hatred� one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, that they will be forced to deal with pain.�
Very powerful essays.
James Baldwin was a fascinating and eloquent man, one who I would have loved to have had a conversation with. His insights into racial issues are truly phenomenal.
This is a collection of short essays about Baldwin's experience with race. In the first three essays Baldwin critiques various books and movies on black culture that he believes do the race a disservice. In the 1950s when black representation was relatively low in both literature and film, I would assume that most black people would have been glad just to see themselves in print and on film;however, Baldwin talks about how misrepresentation is just as damaging as non-representation. I admire him a lot for that.
The other essays go into the black experience in the States and in Europe. One thing he said about his experiences in a small village in Switzerland was truly profound:
“I thought of white men arriving for the first time in an African village, strangers there, as I am a stranger here, and tried to imagine the astounded populace touching their hair and marveling at the color of their skin. But there is a great difference between being the first white man to be seen by Africans and being the first black man to be seen by whites. The white man takes the astonishment as tribute, for he arrives to conquer and to convert the natives, whose inferiority in relation to himself is not even to be questioned; whereas I, without a thought of conquest, find myself among a people whose culture controls me, has even, in a sense, created me, people who have cost me more in anguish and rage than they will ever know�
My favourite essay in this book was probably the titular one, Notes of a Native Son. It was heartbreaking and touching. I've read "Go Tell it on the Mountain" and I detested Baldwin's father. However, after reading this essay, my perception has changed a little. I still found the father unlikeable but now I'm appreciating how difficult it must have been for a black man, an authoritative one trying to raise his family in a society in which all his hard work accounts for next to nothing, a society in which he is the king at home and is considered a "boy" in the white world. I could tell that Baldwin was trying to understand and forgive his father, and let go of his anger; it was truly touching:
“� I did not want to see him because I hated him. But this was not true. It was only that I had hated him and I wanted to hold on to this hatred� one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, that they will be forced to deal with pain.�
Very powerful essays.
March 27, 2022
I read books extremely fast most of the time, for two main reasons:
1) my natural reading pace is pretty speedy,
and 2) and much more significantly, I have an absurd and punishing brain that urges me to pursue projects like "read a short story a day" and "read three chapters of a classic for a month" and "finish a book on a daily basis at LEAST."
In other words, I force it.
But I can never speed through James Baldwin. His writing always helps me to slow down, to think about what I'm reading, to consume and be consumed by books.
It rules. Huge compliment.
Bottom line: This is a great book to read if you want to crawl inside James Baldwin's brain. And who doesn't
-----------------
reading books by Black authors for Black History Month!
book 1: caste
book 2: business not as usual
book 3: the color purple
book 4: the parking lot attendant
book 5: kindred
book 6: wrapped up in you
book 7: the boyfriend project
book 8: a song below water
book 9: filthy animals
book 10: passing
book 11: seven days in june
book 12: ayiti
book 13: notes of a native son
1) my natural reading pace is pretty speedy,
and 2) and much more significantly, I have an absurd and punishing brain that urges me to pursue projects like "read a short story a day" and "read three chapters of a classic for a month" and "finish a book on a daily basis at LEAST."
In other words, I force it.
But I can never speed through James Baldwin. His writing always helps me to slow down, to think about what I'm reading, to consume and be consumed by books.
It rules. Huge compliment.
Bottom line: This is a great book to read if you want to crawl inside James Baldwin's brain. And who doesn't
-----------------
reading books by Black authors for Black History Month!
book 1: caste
book 2: business not as usual
book 3: the color purple
book 4: the parking lot attendant
book 5: kindred
book 6: wrapped up in you
book 7: the boyfriend project
book 8: a song below water
book 9: filthy animals
book 10: passing
book 11: seven days in june
book 12: ayiti
book 13: notes of a native son
February 28, 2017
This is my 3rd James Baldwin book this year. .....first time as an audiobook.
"Notes of A Native Son", is a great intro. into other books Baldwin has written.
These 'notes' are a collection of essays -- written when Baldwin was in his 20's
during the 1940's and early 50's. It was fascinating learning about Baldwin as a young man and his experiences being Black in America through the civil rights movement-- and steps forward.
His memories about unfairness is piercing. I felt his bitterness - then re-visited my sadness of injustice when Baldwin wrote -- [SPOKEN LOUDLY on the audiobook]. "Black is a terrible color in which to be born into this world".
James Baldwin writes beautiful. He covers complicated themes.. racism in America-
Traditions for the black man -isolation within the black community-
He talks about his attempts to better understand his father whom he had a strained relationship with.
Search for identity and pride is an ongoing battle.
Rigorous.... significant.... relevant issues!
James Baldwin articulates what it means to be a Black American and be an American --giving insight about the truth and struggles -- and how shameful these truths have been.
Timeless and Tremendous!
"Notes of A Native Son", is a great intro. into other books Baldwin has written.
These 'notes' are a collection of essays -- written when Baldwin was in his 20's
during the 1940's and early 50's. It was fascinating learning about Baldwin as a young man and his experiences being Black in America through the civil rights movement-- and steps forward.
His memories about unfairness is piercing. I felt his bitterness - then re-visited my sadness of injustice when Baldwin wrote -- [SPOKEN LOUDLY on the audiobook]. "Black is a terrible color in which to be born into this world".
James Baldwin writes beautiful. He covers complicated themes.. racism in America-
Traditions for the black man -isolation within the black community-
He talks about his attempts to better understand his father whom he had a strained relationship with.
Search for identity and pride is an ongoing battle.
Rigorous.... significant.... relevant issues!
James Baldwin articulates what it means to be a Black American and be an American --giving insight about the truth and struggles -- and how shameful these truths have been.
Timeless and Tremendous!
February 10, 2020
“I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am, also, much more than that. So are we all.�
Better known for works such as Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son (published 2 years later in 1955) is an important collection of essays which highlights issues Baldwin would continue to address. Subjects of his essays include his own home life, life in Harlem, the inequities of separate but equal treatment of blacks in 1940s and 50s America as well as his own experiences in France after WWII.
“I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am, also, much more than that. So are we all.�
“You can not describe anything without betraying your point of view, your aspirations, your fears, your hopes. Everything.�
Baldwin's prose still resonates and is relevant today. I find myself wanting to read more and more Baldwin!
Better known for works such as Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son (published 2 years later in 1955) is an important collection of essays which highlights issues Baldwin would continue to address. Subjects of his essays include his own home life, life in Harlem, the inequities of separate but equal treatment of blacks in 1940s and 50s America as well as his own experiences in France after WWII.
“I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am, also, much more than that. So are we all.�
“You can not describe anything without betraying your point of view, your aspirations, your fears, your hopes. Everything.�
Baldwin's prose still resonates and is relevant today. I find myself wanting to read more and more Baldwin!
October 28, 2016
To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious, is to be in a rage almost all the time. So that the first problem is how to control that rage so that it won't destroy you.
- James Baldwin from "The Negro in American Culture", Cross Currents, XI (1961), p. 205
In his dramatic and provocative short piece Notes of a Native Son (1955) included in the ten essay volume of the same title, Baldwin connects a series of coincidental events, unifying them in a brilliantly conceived aesthetic design. Segmented in three parts, he reviews: an act of rage against a waitress in a restaurant; his father's death and his sister's birth; a race riot in Harlem, his father's burial and his 19th birthday.
In order really to hate white people one has to block so much out of the mind � and the heart � that this hatred becomes an exhaustive and self destructive pose.
Baldwin examined parallels between his younger, unenlightened self and his father's characteristic of garnering the enmity of many with his often unchecked fury. An experience of discrimination in a New Jersey restaurant ignited Baldwin's already building rage, leading him to throw a water pitcher at a waitress. Suddenly frightened by what he had done, he fled the scene, later speculating: "I could not get over two facts, both equally difficult for the imagination to grasp, and one was that I could have been murdered. But the other was that I had been ready to commit murder. I saw nothing very clearly but I did see this: that my life, my real life was in danger, and not from anything other people might do but from the hatred I carried in my own heart."
I imagine that one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, that they will be forced to deal with pain.
July 29th, 1943 : The coincidence of his sister's birth, the same day as the death of his father - a man who was, to Baldwin, "certainly the most bitter man I have ever met," whom he considered was poisoned by the intense loathing, fear and cruelty he carried in him (diagnosed with mental-illness and later tuberculosis) - symbolically shaped in Baldwin's mind the death of an old toxic bitterness and the forming of an untainted, new beginning, to forgive and accept..."life and death so close together, and love and hatred, and right and wrong...." Ironically, his father's simple words echoed with posthumous meaning, that "bitterness is folly."
Harlem had needed something to smash. To smash something is the ghetto's chronic need.
August 3rd, 1943 : As if "God himself had devised [ it ] ", the day that marked his 19th birthday, the day his father was returned to the earth, a race riot roiled in Harlem. Ghetto members vented their anger, fought one another, destroyed and looted in "directionless, hopeless bitterness", leaving smashed glass and rubble as 'spoils' of injustice, anarchy, discontent and hatred. These events deeply affected Baldwin who upon reflection sought a change from ill-will to good, to let go the demons and darkness that threatened to consume him - the hatred, bitterness, rage, violence, disillusionment, the social problems perpetuated by 'being Negro in America.'
It was necessary to hold on to the things that mattered. The dead man mattered, the new life mattered; blackness and whiteness did not matter; to believe that they did was to acquiesce in one's own destruction. Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated and this was an immutable law.
As a writer, Baldwin depended greatly on his past experiences, grasping at every bittersweet drop. "I think that the past is all that makes the present coherent, and further that the past will remain horrible for exactly as long as we refuse to assess it honestly." Whether by coincidence or divine making, Baldwin's reflection on those fateful few days was spiritual, cleansing, revelatory, life-saving. From it germinated a new philosophy and idealism that lingered strongly and eternally, nourishing a poetic power and sustaining a literary genius for many years hence.
First read February 27th, 2014
- James Baldwin from "The Negro in American Culture", Cross Currents, XI (1961), p. 205
In his dramatic and provocative short piece Notes of a Native Son (1955) included in the ten essay volume of the same title, Baldwin connects a series of coincidental events, unifying them in a brilliantly conceived aesthetic design. Segmented in three parts, he reviews: an act of rage against a waitress in a restaurant; his father's death and his sister's birth; a race riot in Harlem, his father's burial and his 19th birthday.
I
In order really to hate white people one has to block so much out of the mind � and the heart � that this hatred becomes an exhaustive and self destructive pose.
Baldwin examined parallels between his younger, unenlightened self and his father's characteristic of garnering the enmity of many with his often unchecked fury. An experience of discrimination in a New Jersey restaurant ignited Baldwin's already building rage, leading him to throw a water pitcher at a waitress. Suddenly frightened by what he had done, he fled the scene, later speculating: "I could not get over two facts, both equally difficult for the imagination to grasp, and one was that I could have been murdered. But the other was that I had been ready to commit murder. I saw nothing very clearly but I did see this: that my life, my real life was in danger, and not from anything other people might do but from the hatred I carried in my own heart."
II
I imagine that one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, that they will be forced to deal with pain.
July 29th, 1943 : The coincidence of his sister's birth, the same day as the death of his father - a man who was, to Baldwin, "certainly the most bitter man I have ever met," whom he considered was poisoned by the intense loathing, fear and cruelty he carried in him (diagnosed with mental-illness and later tuberculosis) - symbolically shaped in Baldwin's mind the death of an old toxic bitterness and the forming of an untainted, new beginning, to forgive and accept..."life and death so close together, and love and hatred, and right and wrong...." Ironically, his father's simple words echoed with posthumous meaning, that "bitterness is folly."
III
Harlem had needed something to smash. To smash something is the ghetto's chronic need.
August 3rd, 1943 : As if "God himself had devised [ it ] ", the day that marked his 19th birthday, the day his father was returned to the earth, a race riot roiled in Harlem. Ghetto members vented their anger, fought one another, destroyed and looted in "directionless, hopeless bitterness", leaving smashed glass and rubble as 'spoils' of injustice, anarchy, discontent and hatred. These events deeply affected Baldwin who upon reflection sought a change from ill-will to good, to let go the demons and darkness that threatened to consume him - the hatred, bitterness, rage, violence, disillusionment, the social problems perpetuated by 'being Negro in America.'
It was necessary to hold on to the things that mattered. The dead man mattered, the new life mattered; blackness and whiteness did not matter; to believe that they did was to acquiesce in one's own destruction. Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated and this was an immutable law.
As a writer, Baldwin depended greatly on his past experiences, grasping at every bittersweet drop. "I think that the past is all that makes the present coherent, and further that the past will remain horrible for exactly as long as we refuse to assess it honestly." Whether by coincidence or divine making, Baldwin's reflection on those fateful few days was spiritual, cleansing, revelatory, life-saving. From it germinated a new philosophy and idealism that lingered strongly and eternally, nourishing a poetic power and sustaining a literary genius for many years hence.
First read February 27th, 2014
January 26, 2015
Around this time last year friend Rowena and I did a buddy-read of this collection of Baldwin essays. It wasn’t the first Baldwin book that I’d read, but it was the first book of his non-fiction. It was also the first book that I’ve read that made me feel SHAME for being a white man. The full weight of my race’s mistreatment of African Americans became personal in the light of Baldwin’s writing. It doesn’t matter that I was born six years after the Civil Rights Act, that I never owned slaves or participated in Jim Crow � there is plenty for which I’m responsible in that inheritance of malfeasance that is made manifest - many times without me even being aware it is happening.
After we finished the tandem read Rowena asked me here on GR if I planned on writing a review. The story is that I did write a review (a couple of drafts, in truth) but after reading what I wrote everything just sounded to my ears like the tinny braying of a white man’s take on something he could never understand. So I ended up shredding those thoughts and posted nothing. Now, after a year reflection on the texts � and a background of tense race relations in the USA, I decided to pick this volume up again and give it another read. Baldwin’s words are iodine-in-wound necessary to those of us “privileged� to be born white, male, American and affluent. I didn’t get to choose the circumstances of my birth, just like Baldwin didn’t. So just what is my responsibility to that inheritance that feels like a lodestone? Here’s what Baldwin says in his preface to the 30th anniversary edition to this work:
That is beautiful � a sentiment written in 1984, three years before Baldwin’s death. I wonder what Baldwin would have to say, had he lived to be 90 and published a new preface in 2014 commemorating the 60th anniversary of this work - his country lead by an African American President (elected twice, no less) but also suffering through the shit-shows of Michael Brown and Eric Garner? Absent this, I’m happy to have this rich volume of essays that remind me many times the best thing is to just listen.
After we finished the tandem read Rowena asked me here on GR if I planned on writing a review. The story is that I did write a review (a couple of drafts, in truth) but after reading what I wrote everything just sounded to my ears like the tinny braying of a white man’s take on something he could never understand. So I ended up shredding those thoughts and posted nothing. Now, after a year reflection on the texts � and a background of tense race relations in the USA, I decided to pick this volume up again and give it another read. Baldwin’s words are iodine-in-wound necessary to those of us “privileged� to be born white, male, American and affluent. I didn’t get to choose the circumstances of my birth, just like Baldwin didn’t. So just what is my responsibility to that inheritance that feels like a lodestone? Here’s what Baldwin says in his preface to the 30th anniversary edition to this work:
My inheritance was particular, specifically limited and limiting: my birthright was vast, connecting me to all that lives, and to everyone, forever. But one cannot claim the birthright without accepting the inheritance.
Therefore, when I began seriously to write � when I knew that I was committed, that this would be my life � I had to try to describe that particular condition which was � is � the living proof of my inheritance. And at the same time, with that very same description, I had to claim my birthright. I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am, also, much more than that. So are we all.
That is beautiful � a sentiment written in 1984, three years before Baldwin’s death. I wonder what Baldwin would have to say, had he lived to be 90 and published a new preface in 2014 commemorating the 60th anniversary of this work - his country lead by an African American President (elected twice, no less) but also suffering through the shit-shows of Michael Brown and Eric Garner? Absent this, I’m happy to have this rich volume of essays that remind me many times the best thing is to just listen.
June 19, 2020
Greatest Of All Time
January 18, 2025
This volume is a series of essays, mediations, and philosophical explorations rendered with irony, sarcasm, humor and profound erudition.
I suppose I could say this volume, published in 1955, relates the human experience of one man which is also the black experience of that one man. Though ultimately it seemed to me Baldwin coaxed me into thinking simultaneously of the white experience, the American experience, the human experience and the black experience.
He always writes in such a way that you want to listen and not miss anything, and writes in such a way you accept you will end up turning things over in your mind for quite some time afterwards.
The pieces I found most significant were on the death of his father, being a young writer in Paris (like Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce before him), his arrest in Paris, and a profound rumination on whites and blacks in America worked through while spending a short time at a village in Switzerland.
The narrator was excellent.
I suppose I could say this volume, published in 1955, relates the human experience of one man which is also the black experience of that one man. Though ultimately it seemed to me Baldwin coaxed me into thinking simultaneously of the white experience, the American experience, the human experience and the black experience.
He always writes in such a way that you want to listen and not miss anything, and writes in such a way you accept you will end up turning things over in your mind for quite some time afterwards.
The pieces I found most significant were on the death of his father, being a young writer in Paris (like Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce before him), his arrest in Paris, and a profound rumination on whites and blacks in America worked through while spending a short time at a village in Switzerland.
The narrator was excellent.
April 23, 2023
I could not be more grateful to Erica (thebrokenspine) for including me on this journey where we are reading Baldwins entire bibliography. This was my first time reading Baldwin and it didn't disappoint. It was pure brilliance.
I would be a liar if I said I didn't struggle with reading this. There were sections that I had to read time and time again because I didn't feel as though I was grasping what Baldwin was intending. It's clear that Baldwin was still attempting to find his voice as a writer with these essays. That doesn't make their impact any less meaningful; however, this wouldn't be the first place that I would recommend readers starting with Baldwin. Some parts of the essays were overly verbose, yet Baldwin is still able to capture the experience of so many individuals in such a short collection. I loved his commentary on Black representation in media as well as commentary on his experience of being a Black man living in Paris. If you're interested in hearing my full thoughts on this, be sure to check out the live show that I did with Erica and Josh here:
I would be a liar if I said I didn't struggle with reading this. There were sections that I had to read time and time again because I didn't feel as though I was grasping what Baldwin was intending. It's clear that Baldwin was still attempting to find his voice as a writer with these essays. That doesn't make their impact any less meaningful; however, this wouldn't be the first place that I would recommend readers starting with Baldwin. Some parts of the essays were overly verbose, yet Baldwin is still able to capture the experience of so many individuals in such a short collection. I loved his commentary on Black representation in media as well as commentary on his experience of being a Black man living in Paris. If you're interested in hearing my full thoughts on this, be sure to check out the live show that I did with Erica and Josh here:
December 23, 2017
MY VIDEO ESSAY ON THIS BOOK:
You might be surprised by the low rating but, unfortunately, I can't justify a higher one. James Baldwin is an author I deeply admire and look up to. He is an incredibly talented writer and I want to read his complete bibliography. I'm surprised myself that I didn't click with Notes of a Native Son. I was so sure that I would love it but alas! it didn't work for me.
It's interesting to read Baldwin's earlier writings, especially when one is familiar with his subsequent brilliant books such as The Fire Next Time or If Beale Street Could Talk. It becomes apparent that it took Baldwin some years before he eventually found his voice. I will elaborate on this point later, it felt like he knew (content-wise) what he wanted to say but just not how to express it properly.
Prior to Native Son, Baldwin didn't have the best experience with the publishing industry. After the completion of Giovanni's Room, a novel which focuses on a homosexual relationship, he was told by Publisher's Row that he 'was a young Negro writer, who, if he published this book, would alienate his audience and ruin his career.' His publisher looked on Giovanni's Room with horror and loathing, and refused to touch it.
This is purely my own speculation: I think that these experiences played their part in how James saw himself and his work. Being branded a 'Negro writer' isn't necessarily an advantage.
His voice comes off as aloof, detached and overly erudite � hard to access for no good reason. I genuinely felt that Baldwin lacked feeling for his audience. At times, it felt like he was writing for an exclusive circle of white academics. His choice of words and the perspectives he chose to write from really didn't work for me. I felt very disconnected from him, and thus from the happenings he was writing about. Let's take a sentence like this:
He begins a lot of his sentences with constructs like this:
Moreover, he often spoke from the perspective of white people, oddly, including himself in that group:
The essays in which he describes his own experiences and feelings � the titular essay Notes of a Native Son and his account of his days spent in a French jail � are the strongest. In them Baldwin shines and shows what he's worth. It was gut-wrenching and emotional to learn about his difficult relationship with his religion-obsessed father, and the fact that he felt like he was going to suffucate in the US which is why he fled to Paris. In the titular essay, he details how his anger, once it exploded out of him in a café where a white waitress refused to serve him, eventually paved his road to nonviolence.
You might be surprised by the low rating but, unfortunately, I can't justify a higher one. James Baldwin is an author I deeply admire and look up to. He is an incredibly talented writer and I want to read his complete bibliography. I'm surprised myself that I didn't click with Notes of a Native Son. I was so sure that I would love it but alas! it didn't work for me.
The story of the Negro in America is the story of America � or, more precisely, it is the story of Americans. It is not a very pretty story: the story of a people is never pretty.Notes of a Native Son (1955) is the first nonfiction book by James. It collects ten essays surrouding the issues of race in the US an Europe (mainly France, and later Switzerland).
It's interesting to read Baldwin's earlier writings, especially when one is familiar with his subsequent brilliant books such as The Fire Next Time or If Beale Street Could Talk. It becomes apparent that it took Baldwin some years before he eventually found his voice. I will elaborate on this point later, it felt like he knew (content-wise) what he wanted to say but just not how to express it properly.
Prior to Native Son, Baldwin didn't have the best experience with the publishing industry. After the completion of Giovanni's Room, a novel which focuses on a homosexual relationship, he was told by Publisher's Row that he 'was a young Negro writer, who, if he published this book, would alienate his audience and ruin his career.' His publisher looked on Giovanni's Room with horror and loathing, and refused to touch it.
This is purely my own speculation: I think that these experiences played their part in how James saw himself and his work. Being branded a 'Negro writer' isn't necessarily an advantage.
I don't like people who like me because I'm a Negro; neither do I like people who find in the same accident grounds for contempt. I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. […] I have many responsibilities, but none greater than this: to last, as Hemingway says, and get my work done. I want to be an honest man and a good writer.Baldwin's aim is a noble one: to write about the experience of African-American people in the US and showcase the issues with the system of institutionalized racism. In my opinion, he took upon this task to soon and didn't manage to express an universal wisdom like he did in later years. [And who can judge him, homeboy was 30 years old when he wrote Native Son.]
His voice comes off as aloof, detached and overly erudite � hard to access for no good reason. I genuinely felt that Baldwin lacked feeling for his audience. At times, it felt like he was writing for an exclusive circle of white academics. His choice of words and the perspectives he chose to write from really didn't work for me. I felt very disconnected from him, and thus from the happenings he was writing about. Let's take a sentence like this:
It is an aspect of his humiliation whittled down to a manageable size and then transferred; it is the best form the Negro has for tabulating vocally his long record of grievances against his native land.Native Son is littered with words that are overblown for no reason. It rubbed me the wrong way how Baldwin positioned himself within these stories. As if he were an unfazed observer who talked about/for people rather than letting them speak for themselves.
He begins a lot of his sentences with constructs like this:
The American Negro cannot explain to the African what �His language feels oddly impersonal and overbearing. I really feel like he took the easy way out: it's always easier to write about people rather than feel with them. Too often, he attempts to speak for African-Americans, and sometimes other races, as a whole � blending each individual experience into one. There is no such thing as 'The American Negro�'. All of his generalizations are ridiculous. Although I do not think that Baldwin meant any harm with it, I think that he wanted to give his words a 'scholastic bling', making them seem as if they sprung from an academic text book or social study. He wasn't yet aware of the worthiness of his personal experiences, thinking that no one would care for them.
Yet one day he will face �
It occurs to him that �
Moreover, he often spoke from the perspective of white people, oddly, including himself in that group:
Up to today we are set at a division, so that he [the black man] may not marry our daughters or our sisters, nor may he � for the most part � eat at our tables or live in our houses.This reinforces my notion that he might have had a white target audience in mind. Again, it didn't work for me and intensified the distance between myself and the text at hand.
The essays in which he describes his own experiences and feelings � the titular essay Notes of a Native Son and his account of his days spent in a French jail � are the strongest. In them Baldwin shines and shows what he's worth. It was gut-wrenching and emotional to learn about his difficult relationship with his religion-obsessed father, and the fact that he felt like he was going to suffucate in the US which is why he fled to Paris. In the titular essay, he details how his anger, once it exploded out of him in a café where a white waitress refused to serve him, eventually paved his road to nonviolence.
I could not get over two facts, both equally difficult for the imagination to grasp, and one was that I could have been murdered. But the other was that I had been ready to commit murder. I saw nothing very clearly but I did see this: that my life, my real life, was in danger, and not from anything other people might do but from the hatred I carried in my own heart.The collection would have been much better had Baldwin spoken more about himself � his experiences and his struggles and the lessons he learned from life. The book as it was published is way too overwrought and generalizes a problem which can't be generalized (by presuming one 'common' black experience) and thus failed to educate the reader or evoke empathy.
Read
January 11, 2018Society, it would seem, is a flimsy structure, beneath contempt, designed by and for all the other people, and experience is nothing more than sensation—so many sensations, added up like arithmetic, give one the rich, full life.
I already know that I love James Baldwin's fiction ( and ) so I am not surprised to feel similar about this collection of essays. But, this being a collection, of course there was an uneven appreciation as compared to a complete, cohesive work.
Notes of a Native Son are essays from the beginning of Baldwin's career; he divides the text into three main groupings: literary criticism, blackness, and identity. These are rough groupings, I know, but it helps you realize how different "Everybody's Protest Novel," which is an A+ lit crit essay on from "Notes of a Native Son," the title essay on his father. Each section contains several essays; the titular essay "Notes of a Native Son" is likely the strongest in the pack. Yet, as always, Baldwin's craftsmanship as evident in his sentence structure astounds me. I have never read anyone like Baldwin before.
And as the introduction aptly puts it, the fiction offered a person of enormous humanity. The essays offered a man, a neighbor, or, yes, an older brother. You need to read some nonfiction to have the full perspective towards Baldwin's novels.
I already know that I love James Baldwin's fiction ( and ) so I am not surprised to feel similar about this collection of essays. But, this being a collection, of course there was an uneven appreciation as compared to a complete, cohesive work.
Notes of a Native Son are essays from the beginning of Baldwin's career; he divides the text into three main groupings: literary criticism, blackness, and identity. These are rough groupings, I know, but it helps you realize how different "Everybody's Protest Novel," which is an A+ lit crit essay on from "Notes of a Native Son," the title essay on his father. Each section contains several essays; the titular essay "Notes of a Native Son" is likely the strongest in the pack. Yet, as always, Baldwin's craftsmanship as evident in his sentence structure astounds me. I have never read anyone like Baldwin before.
And as the introduction aptly puts it, the fiction offered a person of enormous humanity. The essays offered a man, a neighbor, or, yes, an older brother. You need to read some nonfiction to have the full perspective towards Baldwin's novels.
October 12, 2024
Vintage Baldwin.
There were some essays in this collection that I had read before, and some just discovered. All of Baldwin's essays are written with textured, rich language that establishes him as a literary genius, and a commentator of the black experience. During his lifetime, and from his essay "Journey to Atlanta", Baldwin writes that "no matter how many instances there have been of genuine concern and good will, honest struggles to improve the position of the Negro people, their position has not in fact, changed so far" (Baldwin 77).
In 2023, there of course have been strides that refute this comment- but there are aspects that haven't changed in terms of systemic issues that still shows off that in our American society, that we still have not come far enough in antiracist work.
Standouts included:
"Many Thousands Gone"- this one reflects the importance of Richard Wright's "Native Son" as an important protest novel. "Everyone's Favorite Protest Novel" is Baldwin skewering "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and quite rightly so, pointing out the hideous stereotypes that this novel has produced over the years.
"Notes of a Native Son" is a personal essay reflecting on his relationship with his father, which becomes the inspiration for his novel "Go Tell it On the Mountain". The trauma of abuse and degradation from his father led Baldwin to leave his home, up to New Jersey (or the Northeast), where like many members of the LGBTQ community, or othered groups, often escape to, "I saw nothing very clearly, but I did see this-that my life, real life, was in danger, not from anything other people might do but from the hatred I carried in my own heart" (Baldwin 99).
"Stranger in the Village" is an essay I have read many times since I have used it as a teaching tool. Baldwin writes about being in Switzerland, a country that is literally the biggest white space out there. He struggles with leaving the USA, being expatriate, and often is fraught with personal tension and worry about what might happen to black Americans who continue to be persecuted, "no black man can ever hope to be entirely liberated from this internal warfare, rage, disassembling, and contempt having inevitably accompanied his first realization of the power of white men" (Baldwin 169).
However, he hopefully foreshadows that the USA and Europe will become more diverse, and in which perhaps everyone can try to value each other's presence, "the world is white no longer, and it will never be white again" (Baldwin 179).
There were some essays in this collection that I had read before, and some just discovered. All of Baldwin's essays are written with textured, rich language that establishes him as a literary genius, and a commentator of the black experience. During his lifetime, and from his essay "Journey to Atlanta", Baldwin writes that "no matter how many instances there have been of genuine concern and good will, honest struggles to improve the position of the Negro people, their position has not in fact, changed so far" (Baldwin 77).
In 2023, there of course have been strides that refute this comment- but there are aspects that haven't changed in terms of systemic issues that still shows off that in our American society, that we still have not come far enough in antiracist work.
Standouts included:
"Many Thousands Gone"- this one reflects the importance of Richard Wright's "Native Son" as an important protest novel. "Everyone's Favorite Protest Novel" is Baldwin skewering "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and quite rightly so, pointing out the hideous stereotypes that this novel has produced over the years.
"Notes of a Native Son" is a personal essay reflecting on his relationship with his father, which becomes the inspiration for his novel "Go Tell it On the Mountain". The trauma of abuse and degradation from his father led Baldwin to leave his home, up to New Jersey (or the Northeast), where like many members of the LGBTQ community, or othered groups, often escape to, "I saw nothing very clearly, but I did see this-that my life, real life, was in danger, not from anything other people might do but from the hatred I carried in my own heart" (Baldwin 99).
"Stranger in the Village" is an essay I have read many times since I have used it as a teaching tool. Baldwin writes about being in Switzerland, a country that is literally the biggest white space out there. He struggles with leaving the USA, being expatriate, and often is fraught with personal tension and worry about what might happen to black Americans who continue to be persecuted, "no black man can ever hope to be entirely liberated from this internal warfare, rage, disassembling, and contempt having inevitably accompanied his first realization of the power of white men" (Baldwin 169).
However, he hopefully foreshadows that the USA and Europe will become more diverse, and in which perhaps everyone can try to value each other's presence, "the world is white no longer, and it will never be white again" (Baldwin 179).
October 31, 2014
This collection of essays is a rarity by the fact that every essay is as good as the previous one. There are no duds in this collection. This is by far one of the best collections I've ever read. Baldwin's prose is just so astoundingly beautiful. I may be premature in saying this but I feel that this may be Baldwin's greatest work. A collection so important, so accessible, so unforgettable that not reading this would be an injustice to you and your bookshelf.
October 29, 2020
“I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.�
I don’t think I can say much about James Baldwin that hasn’t already been said. I love his work, even if it always seems to leave me heartbroken. I think we need to read him now more than ever, even if I find it infinitely sad that he is as relevant now as he was when his essays were fresh off the press. His writing is lean, insightful and angry. I kept looking at the picture on the cover of my edition, at the young man with crossed arms who looked away from the camera and I wish I could have held him for a moment.
Having read “Go Tell it on the Mountain� (/review/show...), the titular essay was especially poignant, as it revisits characters and events Baldwin had described in that thinly veiled autobiography. I admire Baldwin’s nuanced reflection about a father that he spent many years hating, while understanding that his father’s behavior had causes that were beyond his control. He stands precariously balanced on the line between compassion and forgiveness and never quite crosses it.
The other essays eloquently describe his experience in Harlem, New Jersey, Paris and a small Swiss village and capture the always uneasy position in which he was. The injustice of the prejudices held against him at every turn sting painfully, and you can’t help but understand his bitterness and his cynicism.
Baldwin had an amazing mind, a razor-sharp intelligence and a stunning gift for writing. This book should be read by everyone.
I don’t think I can say much about James Baldwin that hasn’t already been said. I love his work, even if it always seems to leave me heartbroken. I think we need to read him now more than ever, even if I find it infinitely sad that he is as relevant now as he was when his essays were fresh off the press. His writing is lean, insightful and angry. I kept looking at the picture on the cover of my edition, at the young man with crossed arms who looked away from the camera and I wish I could have held him for a moment.
Having read “Go Tell it on the Mountain� (/review/show...), the titular essay was especially poignant, as it revisits characters and events Baldwin had described in that thinly veiled autobiography. I admire Baldwin’s nuanced reflection about a father that he spent many years hating, while understanding that his father’s behavior had causes that were beyond his control. He stands precariously balanced on the line between compassion and forgiveness and never quite crosses it.
The other essays eloquently describe his experience in Harlem, New Jersey, Paris and a small Swiss village and capture the always uneasy position in which he was. The injustice of the prejudices held against him at every turn sting painfully, and you can’t help but understand his bitterness and his cynicism.
Baldwin had an amazing mind, a razor-sharp intelligence and a stunning gift for writing. This book should be read by everyone.
November 8, 2023
i’m going to level with you, i just don’t think i’m smart enough to appreciate this.
update: maybe i didn’t give myself, or baldwin, enough credit. i didn’t take much away from some of these essays, but because of Carmen Jones, i now recognize myself noticing the roles of marginalized characters and what that really denotes.
update: maybe i didn’t give myself, or baldwin, enough credit. i didn’t take much away from some of these essays, but because of Carmen Jones, i now recognize myself noticing the roles of marginalized characters and what that really denotes.
June 18, 2019
I simply could not relate to the writing style of this book. I found it pedagogical, overly verbose, and repetitive.
I found James Baldwin nihilistic (i.e. depressing). I know there are good reasons for this (racism). Also, I found the writing impersonal, being lectured to from on high.
I have not read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin� but as the book was written so long ago it stands to reason that it would be anachronistic. I have read “Native Son� by Richard Wright and found the analysis by James Baldwin overly analytical � a meandering dissertation.
I likely agree with some of what was written; it was the academic and ponderous tone that deterred me.
I found James Baldwin nihilistic (i.e. depressing). I know there are good reasons for this (racism). Also, I found the writing impersonal, being lectured to from on high.
I have not read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin� but as the book was written so long ago it stands to reason that it would be anachronistic. I have read “Native Son� by Richard Wright and found the analysis by James Baldwin overly analytical � a meandering dissertation.
I likely agree with some of what was written; it was the academic and ponderous tone that deterred me.
November 25, 2021
[3.7] A sharply observed collection of essays. I found Baldwin's more personal essays, including the title essay, the most potent. All of them comment on race and are still relevant over 70 years later.
January 5, 2018
Το πρώτο πράγμα που σημειώνει ο Baldwin στο Autobiographical notes είναι: I was born in Harlem.... Μια απλή και σύντομη φράση που όμως κατατοπίζει πλήρως τον αναγνώστη, κι εκείνον που πρώτη φορά έρχεται σε επαφή με τον συγκεκριμένο συγγραφέα, ως προς τη σημασία που έχει η κληρονομιά και το birthright στο έργο του.
Πέρα από το καφκικού βεληνεκούς επεισόδιο της πολυήμερης φυλάκισής του στο Παρίσι - όταν του δωρήθηκε ένα σεντόνι κλεμμένο, εν αγνοία του, από κάποιο ξενοδοχείο - στο κείμενό του Journey to Atlanta ο λόγος του γίνεται σκωπτικός, πολιτικός, κι η ιστορία είναι ένα προειδοποιητικό διήγημα για μαύρους πολιτικούς και λευκούς ριζοσπαστικούς και φιλελεύθερους, οι οποίοι με αμφιλογίες μεταμφιέζουν έναν πατερναλισμό που βλέπει όλους τους μαύρους ως παιδιά.
It is difficult to make clear that he is not seeking to forfeit his birthright as a black man, but that, on the contrary, it is precisely this birthright which he is struggling to recignize and make articulate.Με την ανάληψη των λογοτεχνικών καθηκόντων του ο συγγραφέας οφείλει, σύμφωνα με τον Baldwin, να προσμετρήσει τους παραπάνω παράγοντες στο έργο του, να είναι living proof of his inheritance και να διεκδικήσει το birthright του ως μαύρος. Στην εισαγωγή της έκδοσης του 1984 υπογραμμίζει πως
The conundrum of color is the inheritance of every American, be he/she legally or actually Black or White.Η γραφή του, ως εκ τούτου, αντανακλά με συνέπεια το αίσθημα της εσωτερικής διαμάχης ενός ανθρώπου που γεννήθηκε στους κόλπους της μαύρης κοινότητας, μιας συντηρητικής, αδέκαστης και ξένης προς τη φροντίδα κοινωνίας, όντας ταυτόχρονα μέρος ενός μεγαλύτερου κόσμου που τον περιθωριοποιεί εν γένει, απορρίπτει τον ψυχισμό του και βασίζει τις αντιδράσεις πάνω στο χρώμα δέρματος του κάθε ανθρώπου.
It is part of the price the Negro pays for his position in this society that, as Richard Wright points out, he is almost always acting. A Negro learns to gauge precisely what reaction the alien person facing him desires, and he produces it with disarming artlessness.Στο εισαγωγικό κείμενο της συλλογής ο Baldwin ασχολείται και διερευνά το ζήτημα του συγγραφέα, με την αναγκαιότητα να γράφει την αλήθεια για τον κόσμο στον οποίο ζει κι από τον οποίο αφορμάται, να πηγαίνει στην πηγή του προβλήματος, πέρα από την επιφάνεια, και να εξετάζει τις συμπεριφορές, με τη δυσκολία του να είναι μαύρος συγγραφέας όταν το Negro problem δεν αντιμετωπίζεται όπως κατά τη γνώμη του πρέπει.
In the context of the Negro problem neither the whites nor blacks, for excellent reasons of their own, have the fainstest desire to look back; but I think the past is all that makes the present coherent, and further, that the past will remain horrible for exactly as long as we refuse to assess it honestly.Εντούτοις ο Baldwin διακατέχεται από αξιοσημείωτη και μύχια ανθρωπιά, δεν προβαίνει σε συναισθηματικές υστερίες, ωθεί τον εαυτό του να βρίσκεται στον αντίποδα της πικρίας ως προς τους λευκούς, πικρία που όπως ισχυρίζεται ήταν ο καταλύτης του θανάτου του πατέρα του. Δε διστάζει να κρίνει γνωστά και αγαπημένα έργα ως προβληματικά, μεταξύ άλλων το , για τον υπερβολικό συναισθηματισμό, για την ανειλικρίνεια της απεικόνισης του μαύρου, λέγοντας:
I am not one of the people who believe that oppression imbues a people with wisdom or insight or sweet charity, though the survival of the Negro in this country would simply not have been possible if this bitterness had been all he felt.Ο Baldwin είναι άνθρωπος της λογοτεχνίας, του λόγου, κατανοεί τη σημασία του να δίνεται και στους λευκούς χαρακτήρες των έργων υπόσταση πλήρως ανεπτυγμένου όντος, υποστηρίζοντας με θέρμη πως
You do not have to fully humanize your black characters by dehumanizing the white ones.
Πέρα από το καφκικού βεληνεκούς επεισόδιο της πολυήμερης φυλάκισής του στο Παρίσι - όταν του δωρήθηκε ένα σεντόνι κλεμμένο, εν αγνοία του, από κάποιο ξενοδοχείο - στο κείμενό του Journey to Atlanta ο λόγος του γίνεται σκωπτικός, πολιτικός, κι η ιστορία είναι ένα προειδοποιητικό διήγημα για μαύρους πολιτικούς και λευκούς ριζοσπαστικούς και φιλελεύθερους, οι οποίοι με αμφιλογίες μεταμφιέζουν έναν πατερναλισμό που βλέπει όλους τους μαύρους ως παιδιά.
The American commonwealth chooses to ovelook what Negroes are never able to forget: they are not really considered a plan of it. Like Aziz in or Topsy in , they know that white people, whatever their love for justice, have no love for them. This is the crux of the matter.Το στοιχείο ωστόσο που διαπερνά το κείμενο είναι μάλλον το αισιόδοξο βλέμμα του Baldwin, ακόμη κι όταν εκείνο που περιγράφει είναι η αθλιότητα του να είναι κάποιος μαύρος στην Αμερική. Χρησιμοποιώντας τα λόγια του ανθρώπου που πάνω απ' όλα ήθελε να είναι ειλικρινής άνθρωπος και καλός συγγραφέας:
This is the only real concern of the artist, to recreate out of the disorder of life that order which is art.
May 20, 2017
Scorching per usual with Baldwin.
The first essays feature criticism/analysis of the arts, quite interesting but not my favorite part of the book.
The essays on his father (particularly devastating, sad, insightful) and living in France were my favorites. Deeply powerful, moving essays.
His experience with the French justice system (l'affaire du drap de lit) is completely surreal but believable, the epitome of kafkaesque. It is terrifying, he gets sucked into the blackhole of the French prison system because he is wrongly suspected of stealing... a bed sheet. Baldwin weaves in some brilliant humor into this essay, although he is always making serious points through out. Maybe as a French person I found his observations even funnier, but they struck me as pretty accurate and interesting. Plus Baldwin has a great knack for interweaving comedic jabs into his serious observations/ideas. The matter of fact observation pointing out the old man permanently standing next to the communal toilet eating camembert struck me as particularly hilarious because it was so dryly noted and I was like that is so ridiculous it has to be true. Can't get us Frenchies away from our damn camembert even in the vortex of prison.
Baldwin writes with power, precision, perception, coupled with brutal honesty. He crafts and explains his ideas and thinking so well, I love his imagery and flips of language and turns of phrase. His writing is never showboaty although it is extremely finely crafted, no matter how fancy he gets it always serves his purpose in getting a point across (his skill allowing him to zero in on the heart of his themes/ideas with highest degree of nuance and perception). He drills deep down on subjects, amazingly perceptive and startling ability to unravel the complex.
It's sad to know how much pain he suffered, he alludes to the monumental fury and anger he tried to keep tamped down because if he allowed that dam to burst those things would have destroyed him from the inside out. The anger is counterbalanced by his high degree of wit and razor burning sarcasm.
His on point observations on race, identity, white supremacy, the human condition, cultural/societal analysis remain highly relevant to our age.
Cannot wait to read more of his work.
The first essays feature criticism/analysis of the arts, quite interesting but not my favorite part of the book.
The essays on his father (particularly devastating, sad, insightful) and living in France were my favorites. Deeply powerful, moving essays.
His experience with the French justice system (l'affaire du drap de lit) is completely surreal but believable, the epitome of kafkaesque. It is terrifying, he gets sucked into the blackhole of the French prison system because he is wrongly suspected of stealing... a bed sheet. Baldwin weaves in some brilliant humor into this essay, although he is always making serious points through out. Maybe as a French person I found his observations even funnier, but they struck me as pretty accurate and interesting. Plus Baldwin has a great knack for interweaving comedic jabs into his serious observations/ideas. The matter of fact observation pointing out the old man permanently standing next to the communal toilet eating camembert struck me as particularly hilarious because it was so dryly noted and I was like that is so ridiculous it has to be true. Can't get us Frenchies away from our damn camembert even in the vortex of prison.
Baldwin writes with power, precision, perception, coupled with brutal honesty. He crafts and explains his ideas and thinking so well, I love his imagery and flips of language and turns of phrase. His writing is never showboaty although it is extremely finely crafted, no matter how fancy he gets it always serves his purpose in getting a point across (his skill allowing him to zero in on the heart of his themes/ideas with highest degree of nuance and perception). He drills deep down on subjects, amazingly perceptive and startling ability to unravel the complex.
It's sad to know how much pain he suffered, he alludes to the monumental fury and anger he tried to keep tamped down because if he allowed that dam to burst those things would have destroyed him from the inside out. The anger is counterbalanced by his high degree of wit and razor burning sarcasm.
His on point observations on race, identity, white supremacy, the human condition, cultural/societal analysis remain highly relevant to our age.
Cannot wait to read more of his work.
May 24, 2022
While I had some issues with this collection as a whole—mainly that it felt quite disjointed, clearly a compilation of previously released work rather than written with a specific purpose as one entity—James Baldwin, even from his earliest days as a writer is striking. You can tell this is his first collection, his first work of published non-fiction, where he is still finding his voice. But amidst all this there are some amazing observations. I particularly liked the sections that were more memoir or reflective of his life experiences which allowed him to ponder larger themes, rather than the essays about media that read more like criticisms/reviews. That's just a personal preference for what I enjoy reading, but even in those essays there was plenty to unpack and this is definitely something I could see myself returning to again, especially after reading more Baldwin to gain more insight.
August 16, 2021
02/02/2020
“Io sono ciò che il tempo, le circostanze, la storia, hanno fatto di me, senza dubbio, ma sono anche assai più di questo.
Lo siamo tutti.�
Innanzitutto, confesso che desideravo molto scrivere qualcosa in un giorno così unico.
02/02/2020
Come la giri la giri questa data rimane la stessa.
Affascinante quasi come l’invidiabile fedeltà a se stessi.
Una cosa sciocca ma che, personalmente, mi fa pensare alla circolarità di una storia.
La prossima sarà il 29/12/2192 e nessuno di noi può realmente immaginarsi cosa ne sarà della Terra e soprattutto se ci sarà ancora un pianeta con tale nome.
Intanto, viviamo, sopravviviamo sospesi in una parvenza di limbo che ci fa preoccupare per la palese decadenza e, contemporaneamente, ci spinge con forza centripeta ad accendere riflettori che illuminano le nostre piccole vite, ovvero ciò che di più prezioso e concreto abbiamo.
In una data così particolare ho di questi miei pensieri, stuzzicati anche dalla lettura della raccolta di saggi di James Baldwin (1924-1987).
La prima parte di quest’opera mi ha innervosita ma non certo per ciò che ho letto.
Mi sono infastidita perché dopo aver rimandato a lungo questa lettura mi sono ritrovata a leggere analisi molto interessanti di libri (come ad esempio “Paura� di Richard Wright oppure il classico “La capanna dello zio Tom”di Harriet Beecher Stowe) e film (in particolare, “Carmen Jones�, film del �54, che rivisita la Carmen di Bizet in salsa afroamericana) che non conosco col risultato di non poter cogliere appieno le interessanti analisi che fa Baldwin.
Mi è andata meglio proseguendo dove le riflessioni sono molto spesso autobiografiche ed è proprio il suo retaggio a far sì che, al centro delle sue considerazioni, ci sia il rapporto tra neri e bianchi e la peculiarità con cui questa relazione si concretizza per il popolo americano.
L’esperienza di Baldwin di vita all'estero (Francia e Svizzera in particolare) gli dà la possibilità di osservare da lontano la società statunitense con la sua storia e ragionare sulla propria identità che varcati i confini americani sembra aprirsi a possibilità mai neppure immaginate nel ghetto di Harlem.
Scritti tra il 1949 ed il 1955, questi saggi sono prossimi (ma non ancora coincidenti) con i veri e propri movimenti dei diritti civili.
Eppure queste pagine contengono semi da cui già spuntano i germogli della presa di coscienza che rifiuta non solo la rassegnazione del ruolo subumano ma anche l'idea che l’unica via praticabile sia quella di annullare la propria identità distorcendola a tale punto da diventare copie dell’uomo bianco.
Molto interessanti le pagine che riflettono sulla rabbia di Harlem (�...infruttuosa ma anche inevitabile�) in rivolta ma anche quelle che ci raccontano di un soggiorno in un piccolo villaggio delle Alpi svizzere dove non hanno mai visto un nero:
� Ma c’� una bella differenza tra l’essere il primo uomo bianco visto dagli africani e l’essere il primo uomo nero visto dai bianchi. L’uomo bianco prende la meraviglia come un tributo, perché viene a conquistare e convertire gli indigeni, la cui inferiorità rispetto a lui non va nemmeno messa in discussione; mentre io, senza un disegno di conquista, mi trovo in mezzo a un popolo la cui cultura mi controlla e, in un certo senso, mi ha addirittura creato; un popolo che in angoscia e rabbia mi è costato più di quanto verranno mai a sapere, essi che ancora non sanno nemmeno che esisto. Lo stupore con cui avrei potuto accoglierli, se si fossero imbattuti nel mio villaggio africano qualche centinaio di anni fa, forse avrebbe rallegrato i loro cuori. Mentre lo stupore con cui mi accolgono adesso è solo capace di avvelenare il mio.�
I secoli hanno messo in scena sul suolo statunitense un dramma interrazziale.
Negli anni �50 però cominciano a defilarsi molti spettatori di questa tragedia: uomini e donne che intendono battersi perché il proprio ruolo nella società non sia più così passivo.
Baldwin sostiene che accanto a questo nuovo nero in scena ci sia anche un nuovo bianco.
Un cambiamento è possibile, tuttavia, solo se ci si volta indietro e si riconosca ed accetti la peculiarità della storia americana che racconta una storia di un indissolubile legame tra i bianchi ed i neri.
Come questa data palindroma che al punto di arrivo si volta indietro
�...io credo che sia proprio il passato l’unica cosa che rende coerente il presente...�
“Io sono ciò che il tempo, le circostanze, la storia, hanno fatto di me, senza dubbio, ma sono anche assai più di questo.
Lo siamo tutti.�
Innanzitutto, confesso che desideravo molto scrivere qualcosa in un giorno così unico.
02/02/2020
Come la giri la giri questa data rimane la stessa.
Affascinante quasi come l’invidiabile fedeltà a se stessi.
Una cosa sciocca ma che, personalmente, mi fa pensare alla circolarità di una storia.
La prossima sarà il 29/12/2192 e nessuno di noi può realmente immaginarsi cosa ne sarà della Terra e soprattutto se ci sarà ancora un pianeta con tale nome.
Intanto, viviamo, sopravviviamo sospesi in una parvenza di limbo che ci fa preoccupare per la palese decadenza e, contemporaneamente, ci spinge con forza centripeta ad accendere riflettori che illuminano le nostre piccole vite, ovvero ciò che di più prezioso e concreto abbiamo.
In una data così particolare ho di questi miei pensieri, stuzzicati anche dalla lettura della raccolta di saggi di James Baldwin (1924-1987).
La prima parte di quest’opera mi ha innervosita ma non certo per ciò che ho letto.
Mi sono infastidita perché dopo aver rimandato a lungo questa lettura mi sono ritrovata a leggere analisi molto interessanti di libri (come ad esempio “Paura� di Richard Wright oppure il classico “La capanna dello zio Tom”di Harriet Beecher Stowe) e film (in particolare, “Carmen Jones�, film del �54, che rivisita la Carmen di Bizet in salsa afroamericana) che non conosco col risultato di non poter cogliere appieno le interessanti analisi che fa Baldwin.
Mi è andata meglio proseguendo dove le riflessioni sono molto spesso autobiografiche ed è proprio il suo retaggio a far sì che, al centro delle sue considerazioni, ci sia il rapporto tra neri e bianchi e la peculiarità con cui questa relazione si concretizza per il popolo americano.
L’esperienza di Baldwin di vita all'estero (Francia e Svizzera in particolare) gli dà la possibilità di osservare da lontano la società statunitense con la sua storia e ragionare sulla propria identità che varcati i confini americani sembra aprirsi a possibilità mai neppure immaginate nel ghetto di Harlem.
Scritti tra il 1949 ed il 1955, questi saggi sono prossimi (ma non ancora coincidenti) con i veri e propri movimenti dei diritti civili.
Eppure queste pagine contengono semi da cui già spuntano i germogli della presa di coscienza che rifiuta non solo la rassegnazione del ruolo subumano ma anche l'idea che l’unica via praticabile sia quella di annullare la propria identità distorcendola a tale punto da diventare copie dell’uomo bianco.
Molto interessanti le pagine che riflettono sulla rabbia di Harlem (�...infruttuosa ma anche inevitabile�) in rivolta ma anche quelle che ci raccontano di un soggiorno in un piccolo villaggio delle Alpi svizzere dove non hanno mai visto un nero:
� Ma c’� una bella differenza tra l’essere il primo uomo bianco visto dagli africani e l’essere il primo uomo nero visto dai bianchi. L’uomo bianco prende la meraviglia come un tributo, perché viene a conquistare e convertire gli indigeni, la cui inferiorità rispetto a lui non va nemmeno messa in discussione; mentre io, senza un disegno di conquista, mi trovo in mezzo a un popolo la cui cultura mi controlla e, in un certo senso, mi ha addirittura creato; un popolo che in angoscia e rabbia mi è costato più di quanto verranno mai a sapere, essi che ancora non sanno nemmeno che esisto. Lo stupore con cui avrei potuto accoglierli, se si fossero imbattuti nel mio villaggio africano qualche centinaio di anni fa, forse avrebbe rallegrato i loro cuori. Mentre lo stupore con cui mi accolgono adesso è solo capace di avvelenare il mio.�
I secoli hanno messo in scena sul suolo statunitense un dramma interrazziale.
Negli anni �50 però cominciano a defilarsi molti spettatori di questa tragedia: uomini e donne che intendono battersi perché il proprio ruolo nella società non sia più così passivo.
Baldwin sostiene che accanto a questo nuovo nero in scena ci sia anche un nuovo bianco.
Un cambiamento è possibile, tuttavia, solo se ci si volta indietro e si riconosca ed accetti la peculiarità della storia americana che racconta una storia di un indissolubile legame tra i bianchi ed i neri.
Come questa data palindroma che al punto di arrivo si volta indietro
�...io credo che sia proprio il passato l’unica cosa che rende coerente il presente...�
December 5, 2023
Każdy esej lepszy od poprzedniego. To smutne i wk*rwiające, że tak ogromna część tego zbioru jest wciąż aktualna. Sam Baldwin był niezwykle ciekawym głosem.
April 26, 2024
An interesting collection of essays, some of which I enjoyed more than others. Baldwin's writing is unquestionably excellent, but the early part of the this collection is analysis of items in media and literature at the time this was written- things I'm just not familiar with though I'm sure this had more of an impact when initially published. But then he gets into more universal or lasting topics like grief and the loss of a parent, racial segregation, anger at being treated unjustly and what can happen when you allow that (understandable) anger to dictate your actions, and then a fascinating and entertaining recounting of the time he spent in Paris and ended up getting arrested after being found with stolen hotel bedsheets. Definitely worth reading.
July 2, 2020
Sublimely eloquent pieces, as usual. I slightly prefer the fiction but Baldwin's is an indispensable voice in all guises.
'(My father) was, I think, very handsome. I gather this from photographs and from my own memories of him, dressed in his Sunday best and on his way to preach a sermon somewhere, when I was little. Handsome, proud, and ingrown, “like a toe-nail,� somebody said. But he looked to me, as I grew older, like pictures I had seen of African tribal chieftains: he really should have been naked, with war-paint on and barbaric mementos, standing among spears. He could be chilling in the pulpit and indescribably cruel in his personal life and he was certainly the most bitter man I have ever met; yet it must be said that there was something else in him, buried in him, which lent him his tremendous power and, even, a rather crushing charm. It had something to do with his blackness, I think—he was very black—with his blackness and his beauty, and with the fact that he knew that he was black but did not know that he was beautiful. He claimed to be proud of his blackness but it had also been the cause of much humiliation and it had fixed bleak boundaries to his life. He was not a young man when we were growing up and he had already suffered many kinds of ruin; in his outrageously demanding and protective way he loved his children, who were black like him and menaced, like him; and all these things sometimes showed in his face when he tried, never to my knowledge with any success, to establish contact with any of us. When he took one of his children on his knee to play, the child always became fretful and began to cry; when he tried to help one of us with our homework the absolutely unabating tension which emanated from him caused our minds and our tongues to become paralyzed, so that he, scarcely knowing why, flew into a rage and the child, not knowing why, was punished. If it ever entered his head to bring a surprise home for his children, it was, almost unfailingly, the wrong surprise and even the big watermelons he often brought home on his back in the summertime led to the most appalling scenes. I do not remember, in all those years, that one of his children was ever glad to see him come home. From what I was able to gather of his early life, it seemed that this inability to establish contact with other people had always marked him and had been one of the things which had driven him out of New Orleans. There was something in him, therefore, groping and tentative, which was never expressed and which was buried with him. One saw it most clearly when he was facing new people and hoping to impress them. But he never did, not for long. We went from church to smaller and more improbable church, he found himself in less and less demand as a minister, and by the time he died none of his friends had come to see him for a long time. He had lived and died in an intolerable bitterness of spirit and it frightened me, as we drove him to the graveyard through those unquiet, ruined streets, to see how powerful and overflowing this bitterness could be and to realize that this bitterness now was mine.'
'(My father) was, I think, very handsome. I gather this from photographs and from my own memories of him, dressed in his Sunday best and on his way to preach a sermon somewhere, when I was little. Handsome, proud, and ingrown, “like a toe-nail,� somebody said. But he looked to me, as I grew older, like pictures I had seen of African tribal chieftains: he really should have been naked, with war-paint on and barbaric mementos, standing among spears. He could be chilling in the pulpit and indescribably cruel in his personal life and he was certainly the most bitter man I have ever met; yet it must be said that there was something else in him, buried in him, which lent him his tremendous power and, even, a rather crushing charm. It had something to do with his blackness, I think—he was very black—with his blackness and his beauty, and with the fact that he knew that he was black but did not know that he was beautiful. He claimed to be proud of his blackness but it had also been the cause of much humiliation and it had fixed bleak boundaries to his life. He was not a young man when we were growing up and he had already suffered many kinds of ruin; in his outrageously demanding and protective way he loved his children, who were black like him and menaced, like him; and all these things sometimes showed in his face when he tried, never to my knowledge with any success, to establish contact with any of us. When he took one of his children on his knee to play, the child always became fretful and began to cry; when he tried to help one of us with our homework the absolutely unabating tension which emanated from him caused our minds and our tongues to become paralyzed, so that he, scarcely knowing why, flew into a rage and the child, not knowing why, was punished. If it ever entered his head to bring a surprise home for his children, it was, almost unfailingly, the wrong surprise and even the big watermelons he often brought home on his back in the summertime led to the most appalling scenes. I do not remember, in all those years, that one of his children was ever glad to see him come home. From what I was able to gather of his early life, it seemed that this inability to establish contact with other people had always marked him and had been one of the things which had driven him out of New Orleans. There was something in him, therefore, groping and tentative, which was never expressed and which was buried with him. One saw it most clearly when he was facing new people and hoping to impress them. But he never did, not for long. We went from church to smaller and more improbable church, he found himself in less and less demand as a minister, and by the time he died none of his friends had come to see him for a long time. He had lived and died in an intolerable bitterness of spirit and it frightened me, as we drove him to the graveyard through those unquiet, ruined streets, to see how powerful and overflowing this bitterness could be and to realize that this bitterness now was mine.'
October 1, 2023
A solid 3 stars.
Of the books by James Baldwin that I have read so far (The Fire Next Time, No Name In the Street and Notes of a Native Son), this was the one I enjoyed the least. Notes of a Native Son reads like a random collection of rants from Baldwin about his life growing up as a preacher's kid in Harlem, anecdotes about racism and the miserable circumstances of Black people in all facets of life in America including in Hollywood films, and somewhat peculiarly, his travels abroad in Europe. In fact, I found Baldwin's experience of being arrested in Paris perhaps the most intriguing part of the discourse in this book since it shed a light on the lives of black intellectuals who had fled the US in the 1920s, 30s and 40s for greener pastures in Europe (where race 'didn't matter much'). Disappointingly, I didn't detect a coherent thread weaving together the various stories that would encourage me to highly recommend this book. Nevertheless, I appreciated certain aspects of Notes of a Native Son. In particular, Baldwin's characteristic authoritative, yet fluidly persuasive style of writing, which eloquently compels you sentence by sentence; not to mention his impressive breadth and depth of knowledge of the literary and artistic canon, which he uses as a backdrop for many of his profound insights. Ultimately, what is clear after reading Notes of a Native Son is that Baldwin was a fascinating man who was passionate about combatting racism and improving the plight of Black people in America.
Of the books by James Baldwin that I have read so far (The Fire Next Time, No Name In the Street and Notes of a Native Son), this was the one I enjoyed the least. Notes of a Native Son reads like a random collection of rants from Baldwin about his life growing up as a preacher's kid in Harlem, anecdotes about racism and the miserable circumstances of Black people in all facets of life in America including in Hollywood films, and somewhat peculiarly, his travels abroad in Europe. In fact, I found Baldwin's experience of being arrested in Paris perhaps the most intriguing part of the discourse in this book since it shed a light on the lives of black intellectuals who had fled the US in the 1920s, 30s and 40s for greener pastures in Europe (where race 'didn't matter much'). Disappointingly, I didn't detect a coherent thread weaving together the various stories that would encourage me to highly recommend this book. Nevertheless, I appreciated certain aspects of Notes of a Native Son. In particular, Baldwin's characteristic authoritative, yet fluidly persuasive style of writing, which eloquently compels you sentence by sentence; not to mention his impressive breadth and depth of knowledge of the literary and artistic canon, which he uses as a backdrop for many of his profound insights. Ultimately, what is clear after reading Notes of a Native Son is that Baldwin was a fascinating man who was passionate about combatting racism and improving the plight of Black people in America.
August 20, 2024
”The conundrum of color is the inheritance of every American be he/she legally or actually black or white. It is a fearful inheritance for which untold multitudes long ago sold their birthright.�
This collection of ten essays was James Baldwin’s first nonfiction work. It contains absolute brilliance, but taken as a whole is uneven.
The book opens with three essays of criticism, critiquing Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Richard Wright’s Native Son, and the movie Carmen Jones. Here Baldwin presents ideas both provocative and insightful:
”The protest novel, so far from being disturbing, is an accepted and comforting aspect of the American scene. Whatever unsettling questions are raised are titillating, remote, for this has nothing to do with us; it is safely ensconced in the social arena, where, indeed, it has nothing to do with anyone. So that finally we receive a very definite thrill of virtue from the fact that we are reading such a book at all.�
But his style in these opening essays is cold, remote. His writing here comes across as performative � a young man using rhetorical flourishes to impress his readers with his gravitas. They engage the brain without moving the heart.
It is in the next sections of the book, composed of autobiographical essays, that Baldwin’s genius and power are unleashed. In Equal in Paris Baldwin tells of his ordeal being arrested and jailed for eight days over a Paris Christmas for receiving stolen goods � a purloined hotel bedsheet. But it’s the title piece, Notes of a Native Son that truly shines, and is among the greatest works of memoir in our literature. Baldwin explores his relationship with his problematic father and the role of race in both their lives by concentrating on his memorable nineteenth birthday � the day of his father’s funeral and the birth of his youngest sister.
This collection of ten essays was James Baldwin’s first nonfiction work. It contains absolute brilliance, but taken as a whole is uneven.
The book opens with three essays of criticism, critiquing Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Richard Wright’s Native Son, and the movie Carmen Jones. Here Baldwin presents ideas both provocative and insightful:
”The protest novel, so far from being disturbing, is an accepted and comforting aspect of the American scene. Whatever unsettling questions are raised are titillating, remote, for this has nothing to do with us; it is safely ensconced in the social arena, where, indeed, it has nothing to do with anyone. So that finally we receive a very definite thrill of virtue from the fact that we are reading such a book at all.�
But his style in these opening essays is cold, remote. His writing here comes across as performative � a young man using rhetorical flourishes to impress his readers with his gravitas. They engage the brain without moving the heart.
It is in the next sections of the book, composed of autobiographical essays, that Baldwin’s genius and power are unleashed. In Equal in Paris Baldwin tells of his ordeal being arrested and jailed for eight days over a Paris Christmas for receiving stolen goods � a purloined hotel bedsheet. But it’s the title piece, Notes of a Native Son that truly shines, and is among the greatest works of memoir in our literature. Baldwin explores his relationship with his problematic father and the role of race in both their lives by concentrating on his memorable nineteenth birthday � the day of his father’s funeral and the birth of his youngest sister.
August 21, 2017
The titular essay in this collection is phenomenal, one of the best I've ever read. It deals with race (as nearly everything from Baldwin does), but also the severely personal and complicated relationship that Baldwin has with both his father and his own identity. Everything is stirred into this smoking wok of anger and regret that is unlike anything I've ever read. It is amazing.
The rest of the pieces fail to reach the height of "Notes of a Native Son." Many of them are cultural criticism that is largely meaningless unless you are familiar with the book or movie Baldwin is citing. The diction in the earlier pieces strain for a kind of unnecessary erudition, almost as though Baldwin is trying to prove how eloquent he is. The latter pieces relax a little, and he is able to communicate confidently.
There is plenty to learn from here, in no small part due to Baldwin's honesty. Read it.
The rest of the pieces fail to reach the height of "Notes of a Native Son." Many of them are cultural criticism that is largely meaningless unless you are familiar with the book or movie Baldwin is citing. The diction in the earlier pieces strain for a kind of unnecessary erudition, almost as though Baldwin is trying to prove how eloquent he is. The latter pieces relax a little, and he is able to communicate confidently.
There is plenty to learn from here, in no small part due to Baldwin's honesty. Read it.
May 24, 2016
I was racking my brains trying to come up with the words that will show you who Baldwin is, what he writes. Then I said, “You’re silly my girl, you can of course let him speak for himself�.
What he has to say on seeing reality and working with it. How the present is a result of the past and how by denying the past, we deny the reality of us.
It began to seem that one would have to hold in the mind forever two ideas which seemed to be in opposition. The first idea was acceptance, the acceptance, totally without rancor, of life as it is, and men as they are: in the light of this idea, 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 and it now had been laid to my charge to keep my own heart free of hatred and despair.
“People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster�
“Or, to put it another way, my inheritance was particular, specifically limited and limiting: my birthright was vast, connecting me to all that lives, and to everyone, forever. But one cannot claim the birthright without accepting the inheritance. Therefore, when I began, seriously, to write—when I knew I was committed, that this would be my life—I had to try to describe that particular condition which was—is—the living proof of my inheritance. And, at the same time, with that very same description, I had to claim my birthright. I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am, also, much more than that. So are we all.�
His observations of humanity are spot on and humanity does not change that much that his observations become irrelevant. This is what he said on his 1984 preface about this book which was published back in 1949.
"It is not pleasant to be forced to recognize, more than thirty years later, that neither this dynamic nor this necessity have changed. There have been superficial changes, with results at best ambiguous and, at worst, disastrous. Morally, there has been no change at all and a moral change is the only real one. “Plus ça change,� groan the exasperated French (who should certainly know), “plus c’est le même chose.� (The more it changes, the more it remains the same.) At least they have the style to be truthful about it."
And I will end with quoting Lessing a quote Baldwin chose to end his preface with:
“And,� says Doris Lessing, in her preface to African Stories, “while the cruelties of the white man toward the black man are among the heaviest counts in the indictment against humanity, colour prejudice is not our original fault, but only one aspect of the atrophy of the imagination that prevents us from seeing ourselves in every creature that breathes under the sun.�
Another stop in my Baldwin Journey with Maya.
December 21, 2024
James Baldwin is a very important 20th century American writer, and these essays highlight his powerful prose and poignant takes on racism and Americana (and even international issues) from the mid-century times.
Although racism was clearly worse back then, it's incredible--and very tragic--how much of these takes still perfectly apply today. He could be talking about white supremacy in education based off headlines of the 2020s, when he talks of America must mythologize the past and lie to itself.
The best essay is the eponymous one, Notes of a Native Son, about his personal family life meditating about his father's funeral and the hardships Baldwin went through growing up in his household. Another one I enjoyed was about being an expat in Paris, much about how Americans act abroad, which also felt contemporary to me and my experiences as a matter of fact.
Unfortunately, it is a dated book in other ways through no fault of its own. His social writings on movies, for example, takes a bit of research to keep up with after so many years later. A lot of context and backstory, best to read with an understanding of African American literature and James Baldwin himself already. There's also not anything other than a few hints of Baldwin's other minority issues besides being Black: he doesn't really speak of being LGBT+ but that doesn't matter as the racial themes are important enough on their own. Overall, I'm still very glad I read these essays.
Although racism was clearly worse back then, it's incredible--and very tragic--how much of these takes still perfectly apply today. He could be talking about white supremacy in education based off headlines of the 2020s, when he talks of America must mythologize the past and lie to itself.
The best essay is the eponymous one, Notes of a Native Son, about his personal family life meditating about his father's funeral and the hardships Baldwin went through growing up in his household. Another one I enjoyed was about being an expat in Paris, much about how Americans act abroad, which also felt contemporary to me and my experiences as a matter of fact.
Unfortunately, it is a dated book in other ways through no fault of its own. His social writings on movies, for example, takes a bit of research to keep up with after so many years later. A lot of context and backstory, best to read with an understanding of African American literature and James Baldwin himself already. There's also not anything other than a few hints of Baldwin's other minority issues besides being Black: he doesn't really speak of being LGBT+ but that doesn't matter as the racial themes are important enough on their own. Overall, I'm still very glad I read these essays.
August 12, 2023
Samo skrećem pažnju da ova Boldvinova zbirka eseja (guglom momentalno dostupna) sadrži istoimeni esej “Notes of a native son� koji je ličniji, narativno kompleksniji i emotivno intenzivniji od “Fire next time�.
Samostalno, esej zaslužuje 6 �.
Samostalno, esej zaslužuje 6 �.
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