how james baldwin proved that “the impossible is the least that one can demand.” (blog post #4)

James Baldwin was an American writer and activist in the ’50s. While Baldwin is best known for his theory-driven works, he was also known for his novels that framed issues of race and queerness and their stigmatization in early American society. I chose James Baldwin for my writer's presentation because of his pioneering role in the movement for LGBTQ+ rights and how he wrote bravely in a time that didn’t necessarily accept him. Not only did Baldwin openly examine queerness through his writing, but the idea of intersectionality when adding race to the discussion. Something that had never been done before. Furthermore, his writing style is very prose-driven but not pretentiously so, allowing it to be accessible to any reader. It balances literary elements and those of fact. For example, in The Fire Next Time, Baldwin frames the civil rights movement in a letter to his nephew to warn him of a world that will never accept him as a black man. It’s factual, taking into account real examples of racism’s prevalence in society, but sentimental in the format it assumes and the vivid imagery it employs.

In doing this presentation, I hope to take a deeper dive into Baldwin’s more obscure works that perhaps aren’t as appreciated. While delving into his more popular pieces like The Fire Next Time and Giovanni’s Room, I also hope to get my hands on a copy of Go Tell It To the Mountain or Notes on a Native Son and other lesser-known books to paint a better picture of him as an author. I hope to learn more about his life not just as a writer but as a person. I want to draw connections between his personal experiences and the way he chooses more literary elements when writing about them and portraying society the way he sees it as a black queer man.