Biography of James Baldwin.

Barry Mann

James Baldwin was bom in New York City on August 2, 1924. His
mother, Emma Berdis Jones, was unmarried at the time, and his illegit-
imacy would haunt him throughout his life. In 1927, Emma married
David Baldwin, a former slave's son who had come north from New
Orleans. David worked in factories, preached on weekends, and raised
his nine children with iron discipline and little warmth.
James grew to hate his father for constantly criticizing and teasing
him. As a teenager, he rebelled in many ways, first by becoming a
young minister at a rival congregation, then by rejecting the church to
pursue writing. At the same time, he watched his father slowly descend
into a mental illness. Days before Baldwin's nineteenth birthday, his
father succumbed to tuberculosis.
From the first, Baldwin loved to read, and by the time he graduated
from the prestigious DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, he had
written essays for his school and church papers and made friends,
black and white, who later became important professional contacts. In
1942, to help support his family, he went to work laying railroad track
for the Army in New Jersey. It was his first experience outside New
York, and the bigotry he faced there infuriated him. He spent several
years moving from job to job, exploring his sexuality in brief affairs
with other men and writing his first novel.
In 1945, novelist Richard Wright helped Baldwin secure a Eugene F.
Saxton Fellowship for a manuscript he was working on, titled "In My
Father's House," but its rejection by publishers devastated him: he
went into hiding and started a lifetime career of heavy drinking. He
tumed to writing smaller pieces—stories, articles, reviews—and by
1948, he was regularly publishing book reviews and essays in periodi-
cals such as New Leader, Commentary, and Partisan Review. When the
strains of being a black among whites and a homosexual among hetero-
sexuals (he was at one point engaged to be married) became too much.

Biography of James Baldwin 11

Baldwin left the United States to join friends in exile in Paris. For the
rest of his life, he would frequently cross the Atlantic Ocean.
In Paris he lived a penniless, bohemian life and met such writers as
Tmman Capote, Saul Bellow, and Jean Genet. Richard Wright was also
in Paris, though a rift began to grow between him and Baldwin as the lat-
ter began to chafe against his mentor and his tremendous reputation. An
article by Baldwin criticizing Wright's Native Son (1940) was published
simultaneously in Paris and New York and attracted much attention.
Baldwin became great friends with a Swiss national named Lucien
Happersbarger, and it was in Lucien's Alpine village that he completed
Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), his first published novel. Retuming
to New York, he found readjustment difficult, again facing the racism
he had crossed the ocean to escape. He wrote steadily, compiling topi-
cal essays into a collection called Notes of a Native Son (1955). His
second novel, Giovanni's Room, published in England in 1955 and a
year later in the United States, established his literary standing and
identifled him as an openly homosexual novelist.
With his mounting success, Baldwin remained deeply sensitive to
the plight of blacks. In 1956, he covered a conference of black writers
and artists in Paris and made his flrst trip into the Deep South, where he
met the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and other civil
rights activists. These experiences confirmed his commitment to civil
rights and led to a second volume of essays. Nobody Knows My Name:
More Notes of a Native Son (1961). Two years later, he published The
Fire Next Time, a piece about the extremist Black Muslims and Bald-
win's own more moderate views. By virtue of his essays, he came to be
considered a spokesman for his race. In 1963, Attomey General Robert
Ketinedy invited Baldwin and other prominent blacks to discuss the
nation's racial situation. Despite goodwill on both sides, no common
language could be found, and the meeting reminded Baldwin how far
the nation still had to go.
Baldwin continued vrating flction. Another Country, his most candid
and ambitious novel, appeared in 1962 to tnixed reviews; his plays Blues

12 Critical Insights
for Mister Charlie {1964) and The Amen Corner (1954) were recognized
for their vivid passion but faulted for poor stmcture; his sole volume of
short stories. Going to Meet the Man (1965), and the novel Tell Me
How Long the Train's Been Gone (1968) met with harsh criticism and
reviewers began to wonder if Baldwin was getting stale. He was ac-
cused by activist and writer Eldridge Cleaver of race hatred in Soul on
Ice (1967), and he pulled no punches in an ongoing rivalry with novel-
ist Norman Mailer. In many ways, he was caught on the fence separat-
ing art and politics, and his eloquence and artistic vision were waning.
The final straw was the assassination of King on April 4, 1968. The
loss, on both personal and political levels, profoundly affected Bald-
win. Years of hope and stmggle had only brought him back to the bit-
temess that had infected his father. In 1970, at the age of forty-six, he
settled permanently in southem France. He still retumed frequently to
the United States, was still as devoted to friends and family as he had
always been, and still wrote. None of his later works, however—No
Name in the Street {1911), further essays on race; IfBeale Street Could
Talk {1974), a novel; The Devil Finds Work (1976), essays on film; Just
Above My Head {1979), his last novel; Jimmy's Blues: Selected Poems
(1983), a book of poetry; and other articles, collections, and collabora-
tions—gamered the praise his eariier works had received. While he had
myriad projects in mind, it became more and more difficult to write. He
lectured and taught widely, but decades of liquor, cigarettes, constant
travel, casual romance, publicity, and loneliness were taking their toll.
Baldwin developed cancer of the esophagus, and it claimed his life
on December 1, 1987, in his home in France. His brother David, who
had always been a close friend and supporter, was at his bedside when
he died. A week later, more than five thousand people attended the fu-
neral service held for him at New York's Cathedral of St. John the Di-
vine, on the edge of his native Harlem.

From Magill's Survey of American Literature. Rev. ed. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2007. Copy-
right © 2007 hy Salem Press, Inc.

Biography of James Baldwin 13

 Bibliography
Balfour, Lawrie Lawrence, and Katherine Lawrence Balfour. The Evidence of
Things Not Said: James Baldwin and the Promise of American Democracy.
Ithaca, N.Y.: Comell University Press, 2001. Explores the political dimension
of Baldwin's essays, stressing the politics of race in American democracy.
Campbell, James. Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin. New York: Vi-
king Press, 1991. Biography describes the events of Baldwin's life and places
his works within context.
Fabre, Michel. "James Baldwin in Paris: Love and Self-Discovery." From Harlem
to Paris: Black American Writers in France, 1840-1980. Chicago: University
of Illinois Press, 1991. Discusses Baldwin's Paris experiences. Brings bio-
graphical details to the European experiences of the bicontinental playwright,
who owed France "his own spiritual growth, through the existential discovery
of love as a key to life." The notes offer interview sources of quotations for fur-
ther study.
Harris, Tmdier, ed. New Essays on "Go Tell It on the Mountain. " New York: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1996. Collection of essays examines the composition,
themes, publication history, public reception, and contemporary interpretations
of Baldwin's first novel.
Kinnamon, Keneth, ed. James Baldwin: A Collection of Critical Essays. Engle-
wood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1974. A good introduction to Baldwin's early
work featuring a collection of diverse essays by such well-known figures as
Irving Howe, Langston Hughes, Shcrley Anne Williams, and Eldridge Cleaver.
Includes a chronology of important dates, notes on the contributors, and a select
bibliography.
Leeming, David. James Baldwin: A Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.
A biography of Baldwin written by one who knew him and worked with him for
the last quarter century of his life. Provides extensive literary analysis of Bald-
win's work and relates his work to his life.
McBride, Dwight A. James Baldwin Now. New York: New York University Press,
1999. Stresses the usefulness of recent interdisciplinary approaches in under-
standing Baldwin's appeal, political thought and work, and legacy.
Miller, D. Quentin, ed. Re-Viewing James Baldwin: Things Not Seen. Philadelphia:
Temple University Press, 2000. Explores the way in which Baldwin's writing
touched on issues that confront all people, including race, identity, sexuality,
and religious ideology.
O'Daniel, Therman B., ed. James Baldwin: A Critical Evaluation. Washington,
D.C: Howard University Press, 1981. This useful introduction to Baldwin
groups essays in six categories such as "Baldwin as Novelist," "Baldwin as Es-
sayist," and "Baldwin as Playwright." Supplemented by a detailed bibliogra-
phy, notes on contributors, and an index.
Porter, Horace A. Stealing the Fire: The Art and Protest of James Baldwin. Middle-
town, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1989. Originally a doctoral disserta-
tion; the author expanded his original material and published it following Bald-

14 Critical Insights
 win's death. Porter attempts to relate Baldwin to the larger African American
tradition of social protest.
Pratt, Louis H. James Baldwin. Boston: Twayne, 1978. This well-balanced evalua-
tion of Baldwin emphasizes the artist and his literary art. Pratt firmly believes
that Baldwin's major contribution to American letters is in the essay form.
Complemented by a chronology, a select bibliography, and an index.
Romanet, Jerome de. "Revisiting Madeleine and 'The Outing': James Baldwin's
Revision of Gide's Sexual Politics." Affii [75 22 (Spring, 1997): 3-14. A discus-
sion of Baldwin's story "The Outing" in terms of its contrast with Gide's Cal-
vinist guilt. Discusses sexual identity in this story and other Baldwin fictions.
Argues that Baldwin's exile in France was as concemed with racial identity as
with sexual emancipation.
Sanderson, Jim. "Grace in 'Sonny's Blues.'" Short Story 6 (Fall, 1998): 85-95. Ar-
gues that Baldwin's most famous story illustrates his integration of the personal
with the social in terms of his residual evangelical Christianity. Argues that at
the end of the story when the narrator offers Sonny a drink, he puts himself in
the role of Lord, and Sonny accepts the cup of wrath; the two brothers thus re-
gain grace by means of the power of love.
Scott, Lynn Orilla. James Baldwin's Later Fiction: Witness to the Journey. East
Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2002. Analyzes the decline of Bald-
win's reputation after the 196O's, the ways in which critics have often underval-
ued his work, and the interconnected themes in his body of work.
Sherard, Tracey. "Sonny's Bebop: Baldwin's 'Blues Text' as Intracultural Cri-
tique." 4/"nca« American Review 32 (Winter, 1998): 691-705. A discussion of
Houston Baker's notion of the "blues matrix" in Baldwin's story; examines the
story's treatment of black culture in America as reflected by jazz and the blues.
Discusses how the "blues text" of the story represents how intracultural narra-
tives have influenced the destinies of African Americans.
Standley, Fred L., and Nancy V. Burt, eds. Critical Essays on James Baldwin. Bos-
ton: G. K. Hall, 1988. An attempt to anthologize the important criticism on
Baldwin in one definitive volume. More than thirty-five articles focus on Bald-
win's essays, fiction, nonfiction, and drama.
Sylvander, Carolyn Wedin. James Baldwin. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1980.
This good overview of Baldwin's work provides an aesthetic perspective, a bib-
liographical summary, and an analysis of individual works, with greater empha-
sis given to Baldwin's plays, novels, and short stories.
Tomlinson, Robert. "'Payin' One's Dues': Expatriation as Personal Experience
and Paradigm in the Works of James Baldwin." African American Review 33
(Spring, 1999): 135-148. A discussion of the effect life as an exile in Paris had
on Baldwin. Argues that the experience internalized the conflicts he experi-
enced in America. Suggests that Baldwin used his homosexuality and exile as a
metaphor for the experience of the African American.
Troupe, Quincy, ed. James Baldwin: The Legacy. New York: Simon & Schuster,
1989. Contains eighteen essays by and about Baldwin, five of which were writ-
ten for this collection, and homage and celebration from many who were pro-
Biography of James Baldwin 15
 foundly influenced by him, including Pat Mikell's account of Baldwin's last
days in St. Paul de Vence. With a foreword by Wole Soyinka.
Tsomondo, Thorell. "No Other Tale to Tell: 'Sonny's Blues' and 'Waiting for the
Rain.'" Critique 36 (Spring, 1995): 195-209. Examines how art and history are
related in "Sonny's Blues." Discusses the story as one in which a young musi-
cian replays tribal history in music. Argues that the story represents how Afri-
can American writers try to reconstmct an invalidated tradition.
Weatherby, W. J. James Baldwin: Artist on Fire. New York: Donald L Fine, 1989.
A lengthy personal reminiscence of Baldwin by a close friend who calls his bi-
ography a portrait. Rich in intimate detail and based on conversations with more
than one hundred people who knew Baldwin. Reveals the man behind the
words.

16 Critical Insights
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