Clik here to view.
10 Great Novels on Freedom of Expression That Aren’t 1984
Recently I spent a while looking through a lot of novels in a New York bookstore. Two words that caught my eye among all the descriptions of plot on covers and French flaps were timeless and universal....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Your Literary Guide to the 2017 Academy Awards
The 89th Academy Awards will air this Sunday, and this year, the show is likely to be a good—or at least an interesting—one. But the Oscars aren’t only about film and politics; they’re also about...
View ArticleCornel West on Why James Baldwin Matters More Than Ever
James Baldwin was the prophetic voice of an era that isn’t over. Fifty years ago he was the intense man from Harlem who wrote, in essays and novels, his version of a civil-rights movement. Over the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vernon Sullivan: The Bestselling Writer Who Didn’t Exist
In 1946, a novel called I Spit On Your Graves (J’irai cracher sur vos tombes) appeared in France. The book was a hardboiled thriller written by a newcomer, a black American writer named Vernon...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Unique Kind of Hurt: James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time
“‘You must put yourself in the skin of a black man. . .’ writes James Baldwin as he seeks to translate what it means to be a Negro in white America so that a white man can understand it. Despite the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In the Age of Trump, Reclaiming the Golem as a Symbol of Jewish Resistance
“The question of the role of World Jewry,” writes Martin Heidegger in his recently published Black Notebooks, “is not a racial one, but the metaphysical question concerning the kind of humanity, which,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
At the Cave Canem 20th-Anniversary Celebration
Late Friday afternoon, I walked through tree-lined, brownstone blocks of Bed-Stuy to get to the Weeksville Heritage Center for the kickoff of Cave Canem’s 20th-anniversary celebration, A Panoramic View...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Rareness and Difficulty of Love: On James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room
“…not many people have ever died of love. But multitudes have perished, and are perishing every hour – and in the oddest places! – for the lack of it.” * “Whoever has read James Baldwin’s first novel,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Look Inside James Baldwin’s 1,884 Page FBI File
Baldwin and His “Aliases” June 1964 Baldwin was “Jimmy” to most of his friends and to himself as well when he meditated on the various aspects of his personality. The numerous “strangers called Jimmy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Most Anthologized Short Stories of All Time
Anthologies are strange beasts. They are sometimes ludicrous, often ugly, and almost uniformly tyrannical. They have stories sticking out in odd places; they have holes in their sides. Those that claim...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When Are You Going To Write About Black People?
My debut novel is out today. Centered on a fictional riot in contemporary Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, it’s told from the perspectives of characters of various ages, genders, economic classes, sexualities, and,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Do We Need an Adaptation of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus?
This week in literary film and television news, there was a lot going on. The Emmy nominations were announced on Thursday morning, for one thing. More importantly, we were treated to first images from...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Baldwin vs. Buckley: A Debate We Shouldn’t Need, As Important As Ever
“It comes as a great shock,” James Baldwin said in his epochal debate against William F. Buckley at Cambridge in 1965, “around the age of five, or six, or seven, to discover that the flag to which you...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Most Anthologized Essays of the Last 25 Years
Depending on who you are, the word “essay” may make you squirm. After all, here in America at least, our introduction to the essay often comes complete with five paragraphs and “repeat but rephrase”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A 1953 review of James Baldwin’s “beautiful, furious” first novel
John’s heart was hardened against the Lord. His father was God’s minister, the ambassador of the King of Heaven, and John could not bow before the throne of grace without first kneeling to his father....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Young, Gifted, and Black: On the Politicization of Nina Simone
Nina Simone credited her friends of the black intelligentsia for facilitating her political education in the 1960s, offering a set of strategies for critical analysis of the cultural situation....
View ArticleClik here to view.
10 College Courses to Read Along With This Semester (From Your Couch)
This time of year, I always get the back-to-school blues. Not, mind you, because I have to go back to school, but because other people get to, and I have to keep on being an employed adult, at least...
View ArticleClik here to view.
James Baldwin’s Children’s Book Will Help You See the World with Fresh Eyes
2017 was a watershed year for the legacy of James Baldwin. I Am Not Your Negro, directed by Raoul Peck, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary. Barry Jenkins, director of the Oscar-winning...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Your New Roommate’s Favorite Book Says About Them
Ah, the first day of college. You obtain a cheery map and find your way to your dorm room. You are either the first or the second one there. Your parents are with you, or they are not. You have...
View ArticleClik here to view.
23 Literary Movies and TV Shows You Should Be Watching This Fall
Everybody knows that fall is the best season for television—and usually books and movies, too. After all, as the weather gets colder, people have more time to stay indoors where it’s warm, or snuggle...
View Article