Book contents
- James Baldwin in Context
- James Baldwin in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Introduction: James Baldwin in Context
- Part 1 Life and Afterlife
- Part 2 Social and Cultural Contexts
- Part 3 Literary Contexts
- Chapter 19 The Protest Essay Tradition
- Chapter 20 Baldwin and the Black Arts Movement
- Chapter 21 Baldwin and the Rhetoric of Confession
- Chapter 22 The Poetics of Beautiful Blackness On Baldwin and Négritude
- Chapter 23 Mid-Century Theater
- Chapter 24 Sex and the Twentieth-Century Novel
- Chapter 25 Responding to Richard Wright
- Chapter 26 Baldwin’s Literary Friendships
- Chapter 27 Reviewers, Critics, and Cranks
- Chapter 28 Baldwin’s Collaborative Dance
- Chapter 29 Baldwin’s Literary Progeny
- Index
Chapter 20 - Baldwin and the Black Arts Movement
from Part 3 - Literary Contexts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 July 2019
- James Baldwin in Context
- James Baldwin in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Introduction: James Baldwin in Context
- Part 1 Life and Afterlife
- Part 2 Social and Cultural Contexts
- Part 3 Literary Contexts
- Chapter 19 The Protest Essay Tradition
- Chapter 20 Baldwin and the Black Arts Movement
- Chapter 21 Baldwin and the Rhetoric of Confession
- Chapter 22 The Poetics of Beautiful Blackness On Baldwin and Négritude
- Chapter 23 Mid-Century Theater
- Chapter 24 Sex and the Twentieth-Century Novel
- Chapter 25 Responding to Richard Wright
- Chapter 26 Baldwin’s Literary Friendships
- Chapter 27 Reviewers, Critics, and Cranks
- Chapter 28 Baldwin’s Collaborative Dance
- Chapter 29 Baldwin’s Literary Progeny
- Index
Summary
I first encountered the writings of James Baldwin in the fall of 1967, in the aftermath of the Detroit Rebellion, when I entered Western Michigan University as a freshman. Because I was only seventeen years old and conflicted by the eruption of civil unrest in my hometown, it was a difficult and contentious period. James Baldwin’s book The Fire Next Time (1963) answered unspoken questions and thoughts that I had about reaching adulthood as a black person pursuing writing. In many ways, Baldwin is responsible for my becoming a writer during a volatile political period that resulted in a rich literary movement that nurtured and challenged me as a writer. Hence, it was affirming to present a paper at “‘A Language to Dwell In’: James Baldwin, Paris and International Visions,” a commemorative conference held at the American University of Paris in 2016.
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- James Baldwin in Context , pp. 211 - 220Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019