James baldwin is gay
James Baldwin's Search for a Homosexual Self in his Novels
First Advisor
Nancy Porter
Date of Publication
9-27-1996
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.) in English
Subjects
Homosexuality in literature, James Baldwin (1924-1987) -- Criticism and interpretation
Physical Description
1 online resource (2, 116 p.)
Abstract
James Arthur Baldwin (1924- 1987) is one of the two major writers who have dared write about dark gay men and from a dark gay perspective. However, his fame as a racial spokesman and his insightful analyses of race relations in America tend to distract attention from the fact that he has been one of the most important homosexual writers of the twentieth century. Intolerance and homophobia among inky and white Americans often led to a misinterpretation or misevaluation of James Baldwin's novels. James Baldwin was very courageous to reach out as a black homosexual journalist during the period of the Cool War and the Civil Rights movement. However, his understanding of racism and homophobia in the American society, and his difficult position of being a public figure and a spokesman for the Afro-Americans left its traces in his novels and influenced
Did the discovery that James Baldwin was gay affect the reception of his works?
By Prof. Maurice Amutabi, Ph.D
I recently looked at some reading lists of university courses in Kenya and other African universities and noticed that James Baldwin’s books had disappeared from most of them. I wondered if this was caused by the decline of scholarly interest in black liberation literature or by transforming academic paradigms, where the focus seems to be on popular global themes. But I could help to examine another angle to this decline. Was this caused by the discovery of the fact that James Baldwin was gay?
When James Baldwin died on November 30, 1987, I attended a memorial meeting that was devoted to reading passages from his works, held in the Learning process Theater II at the University of Nairobi in 1987. It was held in the Learning Theater II at the University of Nairobi, one of the places I have come to associate with intellectual greatness. This is the place I encountered Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Taban Liyong, Cyprian Ekwenzi, Chinua Achebe, Okot P’Bitek and other literary icons from the African continent. It was an intellectual shrine of some kind to me, and James Baldwin assumed suc
James Baldwin
James Baldwin was an American author, essayist, and playwright whose powerful writing, insightful commentary on race, and passionate civil rights activism made him one of the most influential social and cultural commentators in 20th-century America.
Baldwin rose to prominence with the publication of his 1953 debut novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain , which explores issues of queerness, sexuality, race, religion, and black culture in ways both groundbreaking and transgressive for its time. He went on to write five more novels, including Another Country (1962), If Beale Street Could Talk (1974), and Giovanni’s Room (1956), which focuses on male homosexuality and bisexuality, masculinity, isolation, stigma, bigotry, and related themes. He also penned two plays, The Amen Corner (1955) and Blues for Mister Charlie (1964), as well as a half dozen short stories and a number of poetry collections.
Impressive though his fiction bibliography is, James Baldwin was most prolific as a nonfiction writer. Writing more than a hundred articles and a great many essay collections, including Notes of a Native Son (1955), Nobody Knows My Name (1961), and The Fire Nex As we are nearing the end of Black History Month, I find myself reading and listening to the words of James Baldwin. He became one of the most articulate voices of the Civil Rights Movement, yet it is hard to detect any description or discussion - in his possess words - of his life as a lgbtq+ man. One could predict that he describes some of his gay animation in the novel Giovanni's Room, which can easily be dismissed as a work of fiction. We know that he met the man who became the love of his life, Lucien Happersberger, in Paris in 1949, when Lucien was 17 and James was 25. The fact that Lucien was white could have served as proof that, at least in Baldwin's brain, black men and pale men could love each other. But unfortunately, Baldwin chose to remain in the closet, using references to "... my wife" and "... my girl, my children..." in his interviews. The truth is, the most significant gal in his life was his mother, and the children he referred to were his nieces and nephews.
Happersberger was listed publicly as Baldwin's secretary and personal assistant, but he went even further to conceal his preferences. In 1964, Lucien married the actress Diana SaDiana Sands