Comments on: James Baldwin in Turkey

By: rob

rob — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:42:47 +0000

Bard,
Thanks for the tips. I read about Evidence of Things– it sounds intriguing. I’m going to have to check it out.

By: Bard Cole

Bard Cole — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:42:09 +0000

Hi Rob. I think Baldwin is like a few other super-intelligent writers I admire, such as Gore Vidal: he is at his absolute best as an essayist, and in comparison his fiction always feels a little stagy to me. The last book he wrote is called Evidence of Things Not Seen and is around a hundred pages. He visits Atlanta during Wayne Williams' murder trial and talks to lots of people about the Atlanta child murders. It's a truly amazing book. Then try Notes of a Native Son. Then, Giovanni's Room, which is especially good if you can make yourself nineteen again. BC

By: liz

liz — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:05:16 +0000

i’ve read “go tell it on the mountain” and “giovanni’s room.” both were good, although i liked “go tell it on the mountain” more–there’s just a torrent of emotion behind it that’s so compelling. “giovanni’s room” is perhaps more historically significant in that it’s a novel about gay men written and published during a time when gay protagonists were unusual outside of pornography.

By: john

john — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:11:12 +0000

Giovannis Room…when it first came out many didn’t know it was written by a black man…

By: Norman

Norman — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 14:35:58 +0000

I’ve been reading No Name in the Street lately. It’s memoir/essay and amazingly relevant right now. I’d recommend it, for sure.