James Baldwin (1924-1987)
A selective list of online literary criticism for African American writer James Baldwin, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars and articles published in peer reviewed sources
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introduction
"James Baldwin." A web page from the PBS American Masters series.
"James Baldwin: 'Sonny's Blues.'" Audio lecture with slides, plus discussion questions and suggestions for writing, from the academic publisher A.B. Longmans (scroll down to "Baldwin").
Fleischmann, Anne and Andy Jones. "'Sonny's Blues' Lecture." Includes a biography of James Baldwin, and extended commentary on "Sonny's Blues," the plot summary, characterization, imagery, themes, and social context. AP English class, Univ. of Calif. Davis.
"James Baldwin." An introduction from educational publisher Gale Cengage.
"James Baldwin." Brief biography of James Baldwin publisher from Random House.
James Baldwin, "The Price of the Ticket," a 1990 video about James Baldwin.
literary criticism
Abur-Rahman, Aliyyah I. "Simply a menaced boy": analogizing color, undoing dominance in James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room. African American Review, Fall 2007.
Clark, Keith. A review of Black Manhood in James Baldwin, Ernest J. Gaines, and August Wilson. (U of Illinois P 2002). Reviewed by D. Quentin Miller in African American Review, Summer-Fall, 2003.
de Romanet, Jerome. "Revisiting 'Madeleine' and 'The Outing': James Baldwin's revision of Gide's sexual politics." MELUS, Spring 1997 [first page of article only].
Dunning, Stefanie. "Parallel perversions: interracial and same sexuality in James Baldwin's Another Country." MELUS, Winter, 2001 [first page of article only].
Dupee, F.W. "James Baldwin and the "Man.'" A discussion of James Baldwin's essays and a review of The Fire Next Time. NY Review of Books, 1 Feb. 1963.
Leeming, David. A review of James Baldwin: A Biography (Knopf 1994). Reviewed by Fred L. Standley in African American Review, Summer 1997. Two more reviews, from the NY Times: by Mel Watkins and Margo Jefferson..
Miller, Elise. "The 'maw of western culture': James Baldwin and the anxieties of influence." African American Review, Winter 2004.
Miller, D. Quentin (ed.) A review of Re-Viewing James Baldwin: Things Not Seen (Temple UP 2000). Gary Storhoff, African American Review, Winter 2001.
Norman, Brian. "Reading a 'closet screenplay': Hollywood, James Baldwin's Malcolms and the threat of historical irrelevance." On an unproduced screenplay by Baldwin about Malcolm X. African American Review, Spring-Summer 2005.
Norman, Brian. "James Baldwin's confrontation with US imperialism in If Beale Street Could Talk." Melus, March 2007 [first page of article only].
Olson, Barbara K. "'Come-to-Jesus Stuff' in James Baldwin's 'Go tell It on the Mountain' and 'The Amen Corner." African American Review, Summer 1997.
Scott, Lynn Orilla. A review of James Baldwin's Later Fiction: Witness to the Journey. (Michigan State UP 2002). Reviewed by Douglas Field in African American Review, Spring 2004.
Shin, Andrew, and Barbara Hudson. "Beneath the Black aesthetic: James Baldwin's primer of Black American masculinity." African American Review, Summer 1998.
Tomlinson, Robert. "'Payin' one's dues': expatriation as personal experience and paradigm in the works of James Baldwin." African American Review, Spring 1999.
Wycliff, Don. "A preacher's son." Commonweal, 9 Oct. 1998.
Zaborowska, Magdalena J.A substantial introductory article on James Baldwin from the Literary Encyclopedia, 25 Oct. 2002.
teaching resources
A Teacher's Guide to James Baldwin, contributing editors: Trudier Harris and John Reilly, from textbook publisher Heath.
A discussion guide for two Baldwin novels: Nobody Knows My Name and The Fire Next Time, from Random House Academic.
"How the African-American Storyteller Impacts the Black Family and Society." A teacher's guide, by Barbara P. Moss. From the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.
"The Blues Impulse in Drama: Lessons on Racial Pain" by Paul E. Turtola, a teacher's guide from the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.
"The Family on Stage in the Americas" by Sally B. Kaczynski, a teacher's guide for using monologues in teaching, suggests using James Baldwin's The Amen Corner From the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.
"A Guide Through the Culture of the Blues," by Sloan E. Williams III, a teacher's guide from the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.
Teaching resources for James Baldwin created by C-Span, for their 2002 American Writers series.
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