Baldwin, James (Vol. 4) | Baldwin, James 1924–
Baldwin, James 1924–
A Black American novelist, essayist, short story writer, and playwright, Baldwin is one of America's most eloquent spokesmen, insistently pursuing personal and racial freedom in our morally and intellectually impoverished society. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 1-4, rev. ed.)
Blues for Mr. Charlie … is the embodiment of everything [Baldwin] once professed to deplore, being "notoriously bloodthirsty" propaganda of the crudest sort, with little existence either as truth, literature, or life. Uncontrolled, hysterical, self-indulgent, employing a clumsy flashback technique and proceeding by means of a surprisingly flabby rhetoric, it is a play of thumbs—fashioned, I would guess, to gouge the eyes of the audience.
It is well known that Baldwin has radically changed his conception of himself over the past few years [note that Brustein was writing in 1964], suppressing the private side of his character...
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