Baldwin, James (Vol. 5) | Baldwin, James 1924–
Baldwin, James 1924–
Baldwin, a distinguished Black American novelist, essayist, playwright, and short story writer, is as celebrated for his prose style as for his powerful evocation of the Black experience in America. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 1-4, rev. ed.)
James Baldwin has followed the traditional pattern of the Man of Letters, the Man of Letters with a message, in utilizing almost every means of verbal expression to convey his warnings. But almost anyone so committed to directness of statement is likely to find the odd exigencies of theater more a hindrance than a help. One can tell the truth in novels, especially novels like Baldwin's, more or less directly; one must tell the truth in social essays. But a play is made up fundamentally of the lies of other people's lives. The truth is never in the parts, but in the sum, never stated, but experienced. In The Amen Corner…, a play derived, to some degree, from the...
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