A political companion to James Baldwin / edited by Susan J. McWilliams.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

McWilliams, Susan Jane, 1977- editor.

Series:

Political companions to great American authors

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Baldwin, James, 1924-1987--Political and social views.

Baldwin, James.

Baldwin, James, 1924-1987.

Politics and literature--United States--History--20th century.

Politics and literature.

Political and social views.

United States.

History.

Politics in literature.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

426 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lexington, Kentucky : The University Press of Kentucky, [2017]

Summary:

Acclaimed author and social critic James Baldwin (1924-1987) maintained that all American literature is intrinsically bound to the nation's social history and that all American writers are products of its political system. In seminal works such as Go Tell It on the Mountain, Notes of a Native Son, and The Fire Next Time, he expresses his profound belief that writers have the power to transform society, to engage the public, and to inspire and channel conversation to achieve lasting change. While Baldwin is best known for his writings on racial consciousness and injustice, he is also one of the country's most eloquent theorists of democratic life and the national psyche. In A Political Companion to James Baldwin, a group of prominent scholars assess the prolific author's relevance to present-day political challenges. Together, they address Baldwin as a democratic theorist activist, and citizen, examining his writings on the civil rights movement, religion, homosexuality, and women's rights. They investigate the ways in which his work speaks to and galvanizes a collective American polity, and explore his views on the political implications of individual experience in relation to race and gender. These incisive essays encourage a new reading of Baldwin that celebrates his significant contributions to political and democratic theory. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction / Susan J. McWilliams

2 'A Most Disagreeable Mirror': Race Consciousness as Double Consciousness / Lawrie Balfour

3 The Race of a More Perfect Union: James Baldwin, Segregated Memory, and the 2008 Presidential Race / P.J. Brendese

4 James Baldwin and the Politics of Disconnection / Susan J. McWilliams

5 What William F. Buckley Jr. Did Not Understand About James Baldwin: On Baldwin's Politics of Freedom / Nicholas Buccola

6 Baldwin, Prophecy, and Politics / George Shulman

7 The Negative Political Theology of James Baldwin / Vincent Lloyd

8 Go Tell It on the Mountain: James Baldwin and the Politics of Faith / Wilson Carey McWilliams

9 Socrates in a Different Key: James Baldwin and Race in America / Joel Schlosser

10 Crossing Identitarian Lines: Women's Liberation and James Baldwin's Early Essays / Brian Norman

11 'Where the People Can Sing, the Poet Can Live': James Baldwin, Pragmatism, and Cosmopolitan Humanism / Ulf Schulenberg

12 Baldwin's Individualism and Critique of Property / Jack Turner

13 James Baldwin on Violence and Disavowal / Lisa Beard

14 James Baldwin and #BlackLivesMatter / Eddie S. GlaudeJr.

15 Tell Him I'm Gone: On the Margins in High Tech City / Rachel Brahinsky.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780813169910

0813169917

OCLC:

1000527086