Three Must-Read Books About James Baldwin

There are three books about James Baldwin that are still on my Must-Read -Cover-To-Cover list. Two of them I never got a chance to finish.

This year marks the one hundredth anniversary of Baldwin's birth, a perfect time to begin reading them as a way to commemorate that significant event.

1. Baldwin's Harlem: A Biography of James Baldwin by Herb Boyd (Atria Books, 2008).

2. Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie Glaude Jr. (Crown, 2020).

3. The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America by Nicholas Buccola (Princeton University Press, 2019).

James Baldwin's One Hundredth Birthday

Today, August 2, would have been the 100th birthday of the eloquent and influential author James Baldwin (1924-1987) . One good way to commemorate his centennial year is to read a book or essay by or about him.

James Baldwin's Centennial Year

This year, in August, will mark what would have been the esteemed novelist/essayist James Baldwin's 100th birthday.

James Baldwin Was A Lefty

I have read several biographies of the black novelist/essayist James Baldwin (1924-1987) and seen many photos and documentaries about him. None, as far as I can remember, indicated which hand he favored when he set pen to paper.

Just when I thought I knew all there was to know about Baldwin, it turns out that not only did he lean leftward in his socio-political views, he also wrote with his left hand. (I wonder if any of his teachers ever tried to dissuade him from left-handed writing, since most people are right-handed.)

In the book, The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley, Jr., and the Debate over Race in America by Nicholas Buccola (Princeton University Press, 2019), which is about the famous 1965 war of ideas between the two men at Cambridge University in Britain, there is a photo of Baldwin at his writing table. The photographer beautifully captured Baldwin as he sat, shirt collar open, necktie untied around his neck, deeply concentrating on what he was writing. Between the fingers of his right hand was the ever-present cigarette, in his left hand a pencil. Near at hand was a Dixie cup either of water or his favorite booze. It was probably the latter.

I acquired the book more than a week ago when it was among several hardcover books my local public library was offering for free. When I begin reading it, I am sure I will discover other details of Baldwin's life previously missing from other books.

After seeing that photo, I began wondering if the two James Baldwin biopics that are soon to be released noted his left-handedness. I will be paying close attention to their accuracy.

Ralph Ellison And The Yiddish Language

Sometimes the New York Times Book Review's "By the Book" Q & A feature will ask interviewees to name "the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently."

For me, it was learning that the African-American author Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man) spoke fluent Yiddish. That was a total surprise!

In Arnold Rampersad's 2007 Ellison biography, Harriet Davidson, an Ellison friend, related to Rampersad that Ellison told her "he had picked up a lot of it when he was young, in Oklahoma City and," she continued, "his mother had worked for Jews." During visits "he and my husband would sit on the porch and converse very easily in Yiddish. Ralph had no trouble speaking or understanding it. It brought him even closer to us."

The Other Side Of Ralph Ellison

I own two review copies of Arnold Rampersad's Ralph Ellison: A Biography (Knopf, 2007). And strange as it may be, I never got around to reading either copy.

Then recently I got the urge to read the book when I learned of the not-so-nice side of Ellison (1913-1994), whose novel Invisible Man won the National Book Award for fiction in 1953. Two black writers--Eddie Glaude, Jr. and Victor LaValle--mentioned their reaction to Rampersad's depiction of Ellison in the New York Times Book Review's Q & A feature, "By the Book."

Glaude, a professor at Princeton, after reading how Ellison treated his own mother and his longtime friend Albert Murray, the African-American writer and social critic, went from admiring him to despising him. Glaude said Ellison was "monstrous." (New York Times Book Review, July 25, 2021.)

The novelist LaValle admits he "love[s] reading about artists and their terrible childish ways." And that "Rampersad's biography of Ralph Ellison, while much less salacious than Kitty Kelley's [biography of Frank Sinatra], scratched that itch, too."  (New York Times Book Review, March 26, 2023.)

So now reading the Ellison biography is a MUST so I can see what all the fuss is about.

The Five Black Writers Who Got Away

The five black gay writers, now deceased, who I would have loved the "By the Book" Q & A column in the New York Times Book Review to have interviewed are Melvin Dixon, Joseph Beam, Assotto Saint, Essex Hemphill, and last but definitely not least, James Baldwin.

Their comments on literature, black writing, the publishing industry, race relations, favorite books, etc. would have been enlightening, inspiring, insightful, and enthralling. Maybe even irreverent at times.

Unfortunately, their premature deaths occurred long before "By the Book" ever appeared in the pages of the book review.

On The Road With Langston Hughes And Friend

I enjoy a good road-trip movie like The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) and Thelma & Louise (1991). And for a long time I've seen the movie potential of a road trip by car that Langston Hughes and his traveling companion, Zell Ingram, a young artist, took in 1931. (Ingram is described by the biographer Arnold Rampersad in his The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume I: 1902-1941: I, Too, Sing America (Oxford University Press, 1986) as "a big, handsome, young black man, about twenty-one years old, who lived with his mother over a popular Cleveland hot-dog shop.")

The trip took them from Cleveland to Florida. And from there to Cuba and Haiti; then back to Florida, where they picked up the black civil rights activist and college president Mary McLeod Bethune in Daytona Beach. She became Hughes's second traveling companion all the way to New York City.

While Hughes and Ingram were in Cuba and Haiti, they encountered enough adventures and misadventures to make a feature-length movie a riveting cinematic experience.

Sometimes I think I should become a movie producer.

How About A James Baldwin Biopic?

Earlier today I re-read the chapter on James Baldwin in Christopher Bram's wonderful book, Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America (Twelve/Hachette Book Group), published in 2012. The chapter is an excellent summation of Baldwin's life and literary career.

What prompted me to re-read the chapter was the idea that came to me that Baldwin's life, especially his early life, would make a riveting biopic. Drawing on previous biographies and his essays, the film would trace his evolution as a writer from his impoverished childhood in Harlem to his first few years in Paris where he, as an American expatriate, struggled to survive while completing his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953).

I think this would be the sort of cinematic project that would interest directors like Barry Jenkins, Ryan Coogler, and Ava DuVernay.

Concerning who would portray Baldwin, a good choice would have been the late Chadwick Boseman, who somewhat resembled Baldwin. Unfortunately, since Boseman is no longer available, Don Cheadle, who did a brilliant job of portraying Miles Davis in Miles Ahead (2015), would be another possible choice.

Sidik Fofana, An Emerging Literary Voice

 Prior to hearing an interview Sidik Fofana did with Scott Simon on NPR's Weekend Edition, I had never heard of him. The young African-American writer was on the show to discuss his debut collection of short stories called Stories from the Tenants Downstairs (Scribner/Simon & Schuster). The stories are set in a Harlem high-rise apartment building named Banneker Terrace, whose inhabitants are being confronted with a rent increase, gentrification, and eviction, very timely subjects.

After hearing the interview, I read a review of the book in the  New York Times Book Review, which led me to short video clips of Fofana discussing the collection on the Internet and then a Q & A interview with the website Literary Hub.

Asked by Jane Ciabattari, in an e-mail interview for Literary Hub, who inspired him as a writer, Fofana offers a lengthy list, some of whom I've read (Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, James Alan McPherson, Jamaica Kincaid, Langston Hughes, Truman Capote), others I have not (Jhumpa Lahiri, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colson Whitehead, Sandra Cisneros), but plan to.

The recent media attention has made Fofana, who has an MFA in creative writing from New York University and is a high school teacher in Brooklyn, New York, an emerging writer to watch.

How long before one of his stories is featured on NPR's Selected Shorts? It's safe to bet that it will be very, very soon.

Samuel Delany On The Importance Of Beauty

Science fiction writer Samuel R. Delany in a post on his Facebook page (September 20, 2021 @ 6:36 am) wrote what I think is a very wise comment, one that deserves to be printed, placed in a picture frame, and hung in a prominent spot.

"Beauty in the world," wrote Delany, "is supported because we have all experienced things that were not beautiful and even painful, which is why what is beautiful is so valuable."

Writer Ralph Ellison, Monstrous?

I learned a couple of startling things about the African-American author Ralph Ellison (1913-1994) in a "By the Book" Q & A interview in the New York Times Book Review (July 25, 2021).

The interviewee, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., a professor at Princeton and the author of Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own (Crown, 2020), had this to say about Ellison: "I loved Ralph Ellison....But after reading Arnold Rampersad's biography of Ellison, I despised the man. The way he treated his mother, his betrayal of [writer] Albert Murray--monstrous."

I own two review copies of Ralph Ellison: A Biography by Arnold Rampersad (Knopf, 2007). I never got around to reading the book. After seeing that quote from Glaude, I intend to start reading it soon.

Essex Hemphill Was Not A Fiery Poet

A character in Felice Picano's novel,The Book of Lies (Alyson Books, 1999), which is loosely based on the members of a white gay male literary group called the Violet Quill*, states that in the 1980s "Essex Hemphill [the late black poet] had come up from DC" to do a reading at the Gay Community Center in New York and that "Essex was still doing his fire and brimstone act." 

The Essex Hemphill I saw at poetry readings in New York and Philadelphia wasn't doing a "fire and brimstone act." Picano's characterization of Essex does him a disservice. It makes Essex sound like some kind of demagogue. That approach would have turned off many black gay men. Instead, his eloquent, healing words boosted the morale and self-esteem of black gay men, thereby making him the foremost black gay poet in America, whose work has been widely anthologized and celebrated.

*Note: Felice Picano was a Violet Quill member.

A Future Science Fiction Writer's Early Beginning

 Writer's Digest in the September 1967 issue published the names of the winners of its Short Story Contest. One hundred and ninety-nine names were selected in five prize categories (plus one Special Award winner).

Looking over the list of names, I spotted one that caught me by surprise--Octavia E. Butler of Pasadena, California. She was the 63rd person of 99 to win Fifth Prize. (Each Fifth Prize winner received a Sheaffer pen and pencil set inscribed with their winning entry).

Butler's fellow winners are long forgotten but she went on to literary fame garnering several science fiction awards as well as a MacArthur "Genius" fellowship.

I would love to know the title and subject matter of her winning short story so I can track it down and read it. Has it been anthologized? Is there a biography of Octavia Butler that identifies this story? It is that story that was the beginning of her literary career. Getting it recognized without doubt spurred her on to continue writing stories and later novels.

The Irresistible Zora Neale Hurston

 I love the following quote from Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), a Harlem Renaissance writer who was also an anthropologist and a folklore scholar. The quote was published in the July 2009 issue of The Sun, a North Carolina-based culture magazine, in its "Sunbeams" section, a roundup of quotations by prominent people.

"Sometimes I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company?"

Isabel Wilkerson, the author of  two nonfiction books, The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste, was asked by The New York Times Book Review (August 2, 2020) which three writers, living or dead, she would invite to a literary dinner party. She named Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and Zora Neale Hurston.

I've read the biographies of all three writers and read some of their work. I wouldn't mind being present at a dinner party that included them. No doubt such a gathering of powerful intellects would be a mind and life altering experience. Hurston would especially be a joy with her down home humor, playful inventiveness (she coined the term "niggerati," to describe the Harlem literary set of the 1920s), and knowledge of African-American folklore.

How indeed could anyone with any sense deny themselves Zora Neale Hurston's splendid company?

Remembering Novelist/Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison

Earlier this week, Toni Morrison died at age 88. My longtime friend, Armando Alleyne, an artist who lives in Brooklyn, sent me a text message regarding her passing:

"A great great sister scholar professor and Pulitzer Prize winner has moved on [.] Toni Morrison I pray that she's in the angel wings in the great great palace [.]"

(Sent @ 04:54 AM, 08/07/2019)

I responded:

"I heard the sad news of Toni Morrison's passing. I have three of her books [Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved]. Maybe we should honor her by reading one of her books."

(Sent @ 03:12 PM, 08/07/2019)


R.I.P. Toni Morrison (1931-2019).

Commemorating James Baldwin's Birthday

Yesterday, August 2nd, as I walked near the world-famous Apollo Theatre, its electronic marquee reminded me that it was James Baldwin's birthday. The fiery novelist/essayist, a son of Harlem, would have been 95 years old this year.

If Baldwin were still alive, no doubt his voice and pen would be highly critical of the Trump administration as well as the white supremacist alt-right movement, who are among Trump's avid supporters. And no doubt Trump would be on Twitter criticizing, perhaps ridiculing, Baldwin's comments. But Trump would be no match for Baldwin's eloquence and penetrating intellect.

A Misused Word In A Book About Poet Gwendolyn Brooks

A few days ago I started reading A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun: The Life & Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks by Angela Jackson (Beacon Press, 2017). It's an absorbing read. The prose style seems geared toward a young adult audience but it's a good place to introduce oneself to the life and work of Gwendolyn Brooks.

Having been a proofreader and a copy editor, I spotted a misused word on page 36. Ms. Jackson, a Chicago-based poet, playwright, and novelist, states that "The publication of A Street in Bronzeville would indicate that Gwendolyn had served a solid and extended apprenticeship in the pages of the Chicago Defender and other publications, but she had proven her meddle [italics mine] in the strenuous and continuous Inez Cunningham Stark workshop, the group of Visionaries. The workshop had edged her into an increased sophistication of intellect and technique, providing an environment of frank,constructive criticism and bold, new ideas."

The correct word should have been "mettle," not "meddle"---"...she had proven her mettle...." My Random House College Dictionary defines "meddle" as "to interest oneself in what is not one's concern: interfere without right or propriety." "Mettle" is defined as "staying  quality: STAMINA."

Somehow the copy editors and proofreaders at Beacon Press overlooked this error.

James Baldwin's Former Home In Greenwich Village

Last month, I went to Film Forum to see I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck's extraordinary Oscar-nominated feature-length documentary. It is based on James Baldwin's outline for a book that was never completed. The book was to be about the civil rights movement, American race relations, and the assassination of his friends, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

After seeing  I Am Not Your Negro, I went to the men's room. On my way out, I saw several pieces of film-related literature. The only exceptions were some cards distributed by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. In the center of each card was a color photograph of the bronze plaque placed by this organization on the facade of 81 Horatio Street. The plaque commemorates James Baldwin, who lived in the building from 1958 to 1961.

One of Baldwin's biographers, W.J. Weatherby, mentioned this residence in the biography and wrote that "Baldwin's apartment was two flights up in a rather drab building." Despite the building's drabness, this was one of the places where he wrote the novel, Another Country, published in 1962.

This townhouse, noted the card, "is a touchstone to Greenwich Village's history as an artist incubator, a progressive refuge, and an inclusive haven."

There is a Google map on the reverse side that has a long red line that extends from Film Forum's location on Houston Street to the Horatio Street building."Visit today," encouraged the historic preservation society via the message on the card, "and pay your respects to one of the Village's greatest and most influential residents." (www.gvshp.org)

I haven't visited the site yet, but I intend to when the weather gets warmer.

Alex Haley's Proposed Musical

In Alex Haley and the Books That Changed A Nation (St. Martin's Press, 2015), Robert J. Norrell has written that during the time Haley (1921-1992) was preparing The Autobiography of Malcolm X for publication, he "had an idea for a musical about black life, which he called 'The Way.' In 1961," continued Norrell,"Haley had gotten to know Lena Horne, who had starred in Cabin in the Sky, and Haley's musical bore some similarities to that film. Haley's musical would be set in a cosmetics factory run  by a black executive who was surrounded by several stereotyped characters, including a hipster, a white racist, and a black racist. Alternating black and white choruses would sing 'Camptown Races,' with the black group performing spirituals in black dialect. [Paul] Reynolds [Haley's literary agent] called the idea 'very, very interesting.'"

How long before some Broadway producer will learn of Haley's proposed musical and want to put it on the stage? And what will the public and the critics say about it once that happens? Will black audiences see it as an embarrassing minstrel show or a hard-hitting and insightful lampooning of race relations in America? Stay tuned.