This interdisciplinary collection by leading writers in their
fields brings together a discussion of the many facets of James
Baldwin, both as a writer and as the prophetic conscience of a
nation. The core of the volume addresses the shifting, complex
relations between Baldwin as an American--"as American as any Texas
GI" as he once wryly put it--and his life as an itinerant
cosmopolitan. His ambivalent imaginings of America were always
mediated by his conception of a world "beyond" America: a world he
knew both from his travels and from his voracious reading. He was a
man whose instincts were, at every turn, nurtured by America; but
who at the same time developed a ferocious critique of American
exceptionalism. In seeking to understand how, as an American, he
could learn to live with difference--breaking the power of
fundamentalisms of all stripes--he opened an urgent, timely debate
that is still ours. His America was an idea fired by desire and
grief in equal measure. As the authors assembled here argue, to
read him now allows us to imagine new possibilities for the
future.
With contributions by Kevin Birmingham, Douglas Field, Kevin
Gaines, Briallen Hopper, Quentin Miller, Vaughn Rasberry, Robert
Reid-Pharr, George Shulman, Hortense Spillers, Colm Toibin, Eleanor
W. Traylor, Cheryl A. Wall, and Magdalena Zaborowska.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!