The Evidence of Things Not Said : James Baldwin and the Promise of American Democracy / Lawrie Balfour.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Balfour, Lawrie, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Racism in literature.

Democracy in literature.

Race relations in literature.

African Americans in literature.

African Americans--Politics and government.

African Americans.

Political fiction, American--History and criticism.

Political fiction, American.

Politics and literature--United States.

Politics and literature.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 192 p. )

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The Evidence of Things Not Said employs the rich essays of James Baldwin to interrogate the politics of race in American democracy. Lawrie Balfour advances the political discussion of Baldwin's work, and regards him as a powerful political thinker whose work deserves full consideration.Baldwin's essays challenge appeals to race-blindness and formal but empty guarantees of equality and freedom. They undermine white presumptions of racial innocence and simultaneously refute theories of persecution that define African Americans solely as innocent victims. Unsettling fixed categories, Baldwin's essays construct a theory of race consciousness that captures the effects of racial identity in everyday experience.Balfour persuasively reads Baldwin's work alongside that of W. E. B. Du Bois to accentuate how double consciousness works differently on either side of the color line. She contends that the allusiveness and incompleteness of Baldwin's essays sustains the tension between general claims about American racial history and the singularity of individual experiences. The Evidence of Things Not Said establishes Baldwin's contributions to democratic theory and situates him as an indispensable voice in contemporary debates about racial injustice.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

PREFACE

CHAPTER ONE. Speaking of Race

CHAPTER TWO. "A Most Disagreeable Mirror"

CHAPTER THREE. Blessed Are the Victims?

CHAPTER FOUR. Presumptions of Innocence

CHAPTER FIVE. The Living Word

AFTERWORD. Baldwin and the Search for a Majority

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-185) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Mrz 2019)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781501720819

1501720813

OCLC:

1080550089