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Why is the American writer James Baldwin now ‘everywhere,’ as critics and scholars claim? How did his essays, novels and plays engage with what is now called intersectionality – the intersections between race, gender, sexuality and class? How best to approach a writer who repeatedly dismissed categories and theories?  

Drawing on a range of theoretical tools, including Queer Theory, theology, transnationalism, gender studies and the Black Power Movement, we will examine a selection of Baldwin’s fiction and non-fiction, as well as exploring his vibrant afterlife on social media, film, and popular culture more broadly. 

The aims of this course are:

• To develop a critical awareness of Baldwin’s writing by attending to the language, themes, narratives, genres, and political elements of the literary works we study.

•  To develop an awareness of historical, cultural and political contexts specific to the period (1950s-1980s) that influence the literary works we will study.

•  To encourage and develop research, presentation, and writing skills and a capacity to construct a sustained and coherent argument.

• To develop skills in independent research, writing, and critical argument.

Indicative list or readings (subject to revision)

James Baldwin, Collected Essays, ed. Toni Morrison (1998) – selected essays, including “The Fire Next Time” (1962)

James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room (1956)

James Baldwin, Another Country (1962)

Horace Ové, director, Baldwin’s N (1968)

Raoul Peck, director, I am Not your Negro (2016) 

This class will have a one-hour lecture followed by a two-hour seminar. Students will write one short critical analysis of Baldwin’s writing and a longer research essay on Baldwin’s writing. 

By the end of this course students should be able to demonstrate a deep knowledge and understanding of a wide range of works by James Baldwin.  
A deep knowledge and understanding of some of the historical and cultural factors which influence the literature of this period, including the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Black Power Movement.  
A deep knowledge and understanding of relevant theoretical turns, including, but not limited to queer theory, gender studies, transnationalism.  

Ability to construct a sustained and cohesive written argument, and to deploy scholarly methods of presentation. 
Develop skills of close reading and cultural analysis
Engage critically with secondary material and scholarly debates

Engage critically with secondary material and scholarly debates
Be comfortable working with large bodies of source information
Possess a competent register for interpreting Baldwin’s fiction and non-fiction writing from the 1950s to the 1980s
Be able to write a researched work of scholarship that combines theoretical, critical, and primary source texts.
 

Ability to carry out independent research: identifying relevant materials, synthesizing, producing cogent reports
Development of verbal skills, through seminar-based discussion 
Ability to work independently 

Brim, Matt. James Baldwin and the Queer Imagination (2014). Open Access.  

Elam, Michelle, ed. The Cambridge Companion to James Baldwin (2015).

James Baldwin Review (2014-). Open access journal articles and interviews

Field, Douglas. All those Strangers: The Art and Lives of James Baldwin (2015)

Glaude, Edde S. Jr. Begin Again: Jame Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for our Own (2021)  

Miller, D. Quentin, ed. James Baldwin in Context (2019).