Today is the birthday of one of my favorite writers, James Baldwin. Born in 1924 and fleeing to Paris at 24 years old in 1948, Baldwin went on to write some of the 20th century’s most acclaimed and revered works of literature, whether it be daming essays about the state of America and racism or the Algerian dilemma in France or fictional musings on intimacy and destruction.
I admire Baldwin in so many ways; for his curiosity about the world, his articulation of complex ideas, and appreciation for philosophy, his stone-cold grit while dealing with white liberalism, and his aching for love. So many of these things make him and his work compelling explorations of what it means to be human.
A few years ago while I was falling in love for the first time, two books compelled me to be as vulnerable as I could. One of them was Giovanni’s Room, a Baldwin classic novel about a white man in Paris trying to navigate romantic feelings for another man. So many sections of the book shook me, but this one, in particular, stood out….
In this section, I read Baldwin’s commitment to what Toni Morrison saw as “discredited knowledge”. There was Baldwin’s reverence and critique of the church, his obsession with the losses and wars of the past in one’s mind, and what happens when the truth jumps out at us, even in the form of some strange, psychic man at a bar. In so much of Baldwin’s work, he begs the question. What would you do? What should you do? What is right for the human heart?
If you can, take some time today to consume some Baldwin-related media, whether it’s I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO or sitting down with one of his books or watching one of the above interviews. Go show Baldwin some love.
Giovanni’s Room
Yeah, Happy Birthday James Baldwin!