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
main page | 20th-century literary criticism | african american literature | about literaryhistory.com
introduction & biography
"James Baldwin." An introduction from educational publisher Gale/Cengage.
"James Baldwin: 'Sonny's Blues.'" Audio lecture with slides, plus discussion questions and suggestions for writing on "Sonny's Blues," from the academic publisher A.B. Longmans (scroll down to "Baldwin").
"James Baldwin." An introduction, biography, and brief critical overview for James Baldwin, from educational publisher Pearson Literature.
"James Baldwin, The Art of Fiction." Baldwin's Paris Review interview. The Paris Review 91 (Spring 1984).
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.
Zaborowska, Magdalena J."James Baldwin." A substantial introduction to James Baldwin, from the Literary Encyclopedia, 25 Oct. 2002 [subscription service].
"James Baldwin." A web page from the PBS American Masters series.
"James Baldwin." Brief biography of James Baldwin publisher from Random House.
literary criticism
Abur-Rahman, Aliyyah I. "Simply a menaced boy": analogizing color, undoing dominance in James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room. African American Review 41, 3 (Fall 2007) [sub ser, questia].
de Romanet, Jerome. "Revisiting 'Madeleine' and 'The Outing': James Baldwin's revision of Gide's sexual politics." MELUS 22, 1 (Spring 1997) [first page only, jstor].
Dunning, Stefanie. "Parallel perversions: interracial and same sexuality in James Baldwin's Another Country." MELUS 26, 4 (Winter 2001) [first page only, jstor].
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.
Field, Douglas. "Looking for Jimmy Baldwin: Sex, Privacy, and Black Nationalist Fervor." Callaloo 27, 2 (Spring 2004) pp 457-80 [substantial excerpt, muse].
Miller, Elise. "The 'maw of western culture': James Baldwin and the anxieties of influence." African American Review 38, 4 (Winter 2004) pp 625-36 [first page only, blurred, jstor].
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 39, 1/2 (Spring-Summer 2005) pp 103-18 [sub ser, questia].
Norman, Brian. "James Baldwin's confrontation with US imperialism in If Beale Street Could Talk." MELUS 32, 1 (March 2007) [first page only, jstor].
Olson, Barbara K. "'Come-to-Jesus Stuff' in James Baldwin's Go tell It on the Mountain and The Amen Corner." African American Review 39, 2 (Summer 1997) pp 309-12 [first page only, blurred, jstor].
Shin, Andrew; and Barbara Hudson. "Beneath the Black aesthetic: James Baldwin's primer of Black American masculinity." African American Review 32, 2 (Summer 1998) pp 247-61 [sub ser, bookrags].
Taylor, Douglas. "Three Lean Cats in a Hall of Mirrors: James Baldwin, Norman Mailer, and Eldridge Cleaver on Race and Masculinity." On the writings of these three authors, during the 1950s and 1960s, that explored the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality in the U.S.: Baldwin's Another Country and "The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy"; Mailer's "The White Negro"; and Cleaver's Soul on Ice. In Texas Studies in Literature and Language 52, 1 (Spring 2010) [free article, muse].
Tomlinson, Robert. "'Payin' one's dues': expatriation as personal experience and paradigm in the works of James Baldwin." African American Review 33, 1 (Spring 1999) [sub ser, questia].
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.
main page | 20th-c literature | mid-century american fiction | african american writers | about literaryhistory.com
1998-2012 by Jan Pridmore