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Ich weiß, wovon ich spreche: Ein Leben in Gesprächen
Kaum ein Schriftsteller des 20. Jahrhunderts hat in den letzten Jahren eine ähnliche Renaissance erfahren wie James Baldwin. Was zum einen mit der einzigartigen Schönheit seiner Prosa zu tun hat - aber auch damit, dass die Themen, die ihn bereits vor sechzig Jahren umtrieben, noch heute drängend sind. 1924 in ärmlichen Verhältnissen in New York geboren, bekam Baldwin früh zu spüren, dass nicht alle Menschen gleich sind. Auch aus Hass gegen die weißen Unterdrücker wandte er sich dem Glauben zu. Bald jedoch ging ihm auf, dass er einen Irrweg eingeschlagen hatte - auch durch seine Lektüren. Baldwin wollte Schriftsteller werden, doch im rassistischen New York der vierziger Jahre, würde er nicht reüssieren. Er zog nach Frankreich, ließ sein Geburtsland jedoch nie aus dem Blick:In den sechziger Jahren engagierte er sich in der Bürgerrechtsbewegung, zeit seines Lebens setzte er sich für die Rechte von Schwarzen, von Homosexuellen ein - und schrieb flammende, hellsichtige Essays und einige der schönsten Romane des 20. Jahrhunderts. Die in diesem Band versammelten Gespräche machen auf schmerzliche Weise deutlich, wie wichtig Baldwins Stimme noch heute im politischen Diskurs ist, aber es geht auch um seine Kindheit, seine »Selbstexilierung«, um Sexualität und Literatur, um seinen nie nachlassenden Optimismus, trotz allem - und um eine Episode im Schweizer Wallis.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published May 23, 2024
About the author
James Baldwin
397 books18.3k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Works of American writer James Arthur Baldwin, outspoken critic of racism, include Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), a novel, and Notes of a Native Son (1955), a collection of essays.
James Arthur Baldwin authored plays and poems in society.
He came as the eldest of nine children; his stepfather served as a minister. At 14 years of age in 1938, Baldwin preached at the small fireside Pentecostal church in Harlem. From religion in the early 1940s, he transferred his faith to literature with the still evident impassioned cadences of black churches. From 1948, Baldwin made his home primarily in the south of France but often returned to the United States of America to lecture or to teach.
In his Giovanni's Room, a white American expatriate must come to terms with his homosexuality. In 1957, he began spending half of each year in city of New York.
James Baldwin offered a vital literary voice during the era of civil rights activism in the 1950s and 1960s.
He first partially autobiographically accounted his youth. His influential Nobody Knows My Name and The Fire Next Time informed a large white audience. Another Country talks about gay sexual tensions among intellectuals of New York. Segments of the black nationalist community savaged his gay themes. Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panthers stated the Baldwin displayed an "agonizing, total hatred of blacks." People produced Blues for Mister Charlie , play of Baldwin, in 1964. Huey Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, defended Baldwin.
Going to Meet the Man and Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone provided powerful descriptions. He as an openly gay man increasingly in condemned discrimination against lesbian persons.
From stomach cancer, Baldwin died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France. People buried his body at the Ferncliff cemetery in Hartsdale near city of New York.
Works of American writer James Arthur Baldwin, outspoken critic of racism, include Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), a novel, and Notes of a Native Son (1955), a collection of essays.
James Arthur Baldwin authored plays and poems in society.
He came as the eldest of nine children; his stepfather served as a minister. At 14 years of age in 1938, Baldwin preached at the small fireside Pentecostal church in Harlem. From religion in the early 1940s, he transferred his faith to literature with the still evident impassioned cadences of black churches. From 1948, Baldwin made his home primarily in the south of France but often returned to the United States of America to lecture or to teach.
In his Giovanni's Room, a white American expatriate must come to terms with his homosexuality. In 1957, he began spending half of each year in city of New York.
James Baldwin offered a vital literary voice during the era of civil rights activism in the 1950s and 1960s.
He first partially autobiographically accounted his youth. His influential Nobody Knows My Name and The Fire Next Time informed a large white audience. Another Country talks about gay sexual tensions among intellectuals of New York. Segments of the black nationalist community savaged his gay themes. Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panthers stated the Baldwin displayed an "agonizing, total hatred of blacks." People produced Blues for Mister Charlie , play of Baldwin, in 1964. Huey Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, defended Baldwin.
Going to Meet the Man and Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone provided powerful descriptions. He as an openly gay man increasingly in condemned discrimination against lesbian persons.
From stomach cancer, Baldwin died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France. People buried his body at the Ferncliff cemetery in Hartsdale near city of New York.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 27, 2025
James Baldwin hat mit seinen Analysen auch Jahrzehnte nach ihrer Entstehung kaum an Aktualität verloren, was in gewisser Weise ein trauriges Zeugnis unserer Zeit ist. Dennoch gelingt, Hoffnung zu streuen, die Lesende Person zu aktivieren, die eigene Rolle zu begreifen.
Besonders beeindruckend fand ich die Streitgespräche, die er mit Audre Lorde und Nikki Giovanni führt. Beide liefern ihm in den Diskussionen scharfsinnige und oft überraschende Konter, was die Gespräche nicht nur intellektuell, sondern auch emotional packend macht. Das hat richtig Spaß gemacht!
Besonders beeindruckend fand ich die Streitgespräche, die er mit Audre Lorde und Nikki Giovanni führt. Beide liefern ihm in den Diskussionen scharfsinnige und oft überraschende Konter, was die Gespräche nicht nur intellektuell, sondern auch emotional packend macht. Das hat richtig Spaß gemacht!
Displaying 1 of 1 review