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دفعهی بعد، آتش
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95 pages, Paperback
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About the author
James Baldwin
385 books16.8k 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 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 8, 2021
5★
“I realized that the Bible had been written by white men. I knew that, according to many Christians, I was a descendant of Ham, who had been cursed, and that I was therefore predestined to be a slave. This had nothing to do with anything I was, or contained, or could become; my fate had been sealed forever, from the beginning of time. And it seemed, indeed, when one looked out over Christendom, that this was what Christendom effectively believed.”
James Baldwin, New York, September 17, 1946. Photograph by Richard Avedon
I read this last year in Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, but I saw that this particular 1962 piece was included in The New Yorker’s February archive edition, so I hope other readers will be able to access it. February is Black History Month, or African-American History Month.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/19...
This time, I was struck by how adamant he was that Islam, and its black Allah, is not what will save the American Negro, the term he always uses. He discusses the concept of equality in many places, and I think this is probably the best summary I’ve seen.
“White Americans find it as difficult as white people elsewhere do to divest themselves of the notion that they are in possession of some intrinsic value that black people need, or want. And this assumption – which, for example, makes the solution to the Negro problem depend on the speed with which Negroes accept and adopt white standards – is revealed in all kinds of striking ways, from Bobby Kennedy’s assurance that a Negro can become President in forty years to the unfortunate tone of warm congratulation with which so many liberals address their Negro equals. It is the Negro, of course, who is presumed to have become equal—an achievement that not only proves the comforting fact that perseverance has no color but also overwhelmingly corroborates the white man’s sense of his own value.”
In other words, it’s the white man who assumes he is the pinnacle of perfection to which other races would obviously aspire. So the fact that 42 years later the US did have a black President in the White House (no pun intended), would indicate that voters judged that Barack Obama had reached some acceptable level that whites deemed necessary to be equal to them.
I have to say, all of Baldwin’s thoughts and arguments still seem current and valid. His writing and discussions are so wonderful that it really does demand to be read more than once. It’s a pity he’s been gone for so long.
Below is what I wrote after my first reading and is part of my review for The Fire Next Time.
= = = = =
Baldwin speaks of his youth, his father, his early life as a very young pastor, who learned at first-hand how religion rules the people.
“Being in the pulpit was like being in the theatre; I was behind the scenes and knew how the illusion was worked.
. . .
I knew how to work on a congregation until the last dime was surrendered – it was not very hard to do – and I knew where the money for ‘the Lord’s work’ went. I knew, though I did not wish to know it, that I had no respect for the people with whom I worked.”
He became a writer and gained some fame, which brought him to the attention of the growing Muslim movement. He speaks often of Negroes, which is the term I was taught as the polite one, and he discovered that the Muslim God is black, unlike the Christian God, who is white. He can see how this will appeal to the American Negro, who has no home, no country of his own.
He does not favour violence, but he can see the risks of business as usual in America.
“. . . people from whom everything has been taken away, including, most crucially, their sense of their own worth. People cannot live without this sense; they will do anything whatever to regain it. This is why the most dangerous creation of any society is that man who has nothing to lose. You do not need ten such men – one will do.”
This is almost 60 years ago.
“It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck, and an even greater miracle of perception and charity not to teach your child to hate.”
Whose foot is on your neck.
Make that “knee”, and you can see how far we still have to go.
Powerful stuff, beautifully written.
Link to my review of The Fire Next Time
“I realized that the Bible had been written by white men. I knew that, according to many Christians, I was a descendant of Ham, who had been cursed, and that I was therefore predestined to be a slave. This had nothing to do with anything I was, or contained, or could become; my fate had been sealed forever, from the beginning of time. And it seemed, indeed, when one looked out over Christendom, that this was what Christendom effectively believed.”
James Baldwin, New York, September 17, 1946. Photograph by Richard Avedon
I read this last year in Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, but I saw that this particular 1962 piece was included in The New Yorker’s February archive edition, so I hope other readers will be able to access it. February is Black History Month, or African-American History Month.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/19...
This time, I was struck by how adamant he was that Islam, and its black Allah, is not what will save the American Negro, the term he always uses. He discusses the concept of equality in many places, and I think this is probably the best summary I’ve seen.
“White Americans find it as difficult as white people elsewhere do to divest themselves of the notion that they are in possession of some intrinsic value that black people need, or want. And this assumption – which, for example, makes the solution to the Negro problem depend on the speed with which Negroes accept and adopt white standards – is revealed in all kinds of striking ways, from Bobby Kennedy’s assurance that a Negro can become President in forty years to the unfortunate tone of warm congratulation with which so many liberals address their Negro equals. It is the Negro, of course, who is presumed to have become equal—an achievement that not only proves the comforting fact that perseverance has no color but also overwhelmingly corroborates the white man’s sense of his own value.”
In other words, it’s the white man who assumes he is the pinnacle of perfection to which other races would obviously aspire. So the fact that 42 years later the US did have a black President in the White House (no pun intended), would indicate that voters judged that Barack Obama had reached some acceptable level that whites deemed necessary to be equal to them.
I have to say, all of Baldwin’s thoughts and arguments still seem current and valid. His writing and discussions are so wonderful that it really does demand to be read more than once. It’s a pity he’s been gone for so long.
Below is what I wrote after my first reading and is part of my review for The Fire Next Time.
= = = = =
Baldwin speaks of his youth, his father, his early life as a very young pastor, who learned at first-hand how religion rules the people.
“Being in the pulpit was like being in the theatre; I was behind the scenes and knew how the illusion was worked.
. . .
I knew how to work on a congregation until the last dime was surrendered – it was not very hard to do – and I knew where the money for ‘the Lord’s work’ went. I knew, though I did not wish to know it, that I had no respect for the people with whom I worked.”
He became a writer and gained some fame, which brought him to the attention of the growing Muslim movement. He speaks often of Negroes, which is the term I was taught as the polite one, and he discovered that the Muslim God is black, unlike the Christian God, who is white. He can see how this will appeal to the American Negro, who has no home, no country of his own.
He does not favour violence, but he can see the risks of business as usual in America.
“. . . people from whom everything has been taken away, including, most crucially, their sense of their own worth. People cannot live without this sense; they will do anything whatever to regain it. This is why the most dangerous creation of any society is that man who has nothing to lose. You do not need ten such men – one will do.”
This is almost 60 years ago.
“It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck, and an even greater miracle of perception and charity not to teach your child to hate.”
Whose foot is on your neck.
Make that “knee”, and you can see how far we still have to go.
Powerful stuff, beautifully written.
Link to my review of The Fire Next Time
May 2, 2023
لویی آرمسترانگ می خندد و صورتش در غم عمیقی فرو میرود و میخواند:
" what a wonderful world! "
" این دنیا نیست که جای بدی است. (بدی) کاری است که ما با آن می کنیم. دنیا جای شگفت انگیزی میشد اگر فرصتی به آن می دادیم. عشق عزیزم عشق. رازش این است."
https://youtu.be/2nGKqH26xlg
" what a wonderful world! "
" این دنیا نیست که جای بدی است. (بدی) کاری است که ما با آن می کنیم. دنیا جای شگفت انگیزی میشد اگر فرصتی به آن می دادیم. عشق عزیزم عشق. رازش این است."
https://youtu.be/2nGKqH26xlg
May 24, 2023
«هر آنچه مردم سفید دربارهی نگروها نمیدانند به نحوی دقیق و بی کم و کاست برملا کننده آن چیزی است که دربارهی خودشان نمیدانند.»
من تا به حال کتابی غیرداستانی یا جوری که الان میگن «ناداستان» درباره نژاد پرستی و چیزی که بر سر سیاه پوستان گذشته نخونده بودم.
اطلاعات کلی ای بعد از قضایای جورج فلوید داشتم ولی این کتاب یه در جدید رو برام باز کرد که تا الان حتی فکر نمیکردم برام اهمیتی داشته باشه و لازمش داشته باشم.
اول از همه واقعا قلم جیمز بالدوین قویه جوری که در کمتر از صد صفحه یه نگاه کلی به مسئله سیاه پوست بودن در آمریکا میندازه، دلیلش و ریشش رو نشونت میده و در طی کتاب راه حل این مشکل رو جلوی پات میذاره. راه حلی که در تئوری سادست ولی در عمل قرن هاست که نتونسته به واقعیت بپیونده.
این کتاب سال ۱۹۶۲ نوشته شده. قطعا با گذشت ۶۰ سال ازش چیزای زیادی تغییر کرده ولی عمق و ریشه ماجرا که توی کتاب به تصویر کشیده میشه هنوز همونه، بدون اینکه ذره ای بهتر بشه. (به نظر من اگه بهتر میشد هرگز ماجرای جورج فلوید پیش نمیومد. فقط ظاهر قضیه توی چند سال اخیر عوض شده اما بطن ماجرا هنوز گندیده.)
توی مقدمه مترجم میگه: «سیاه در آمریکا بی شباهت به زن در برخی کشور های دیگر نیست.»
به نظرم همین جمله باید کافی باشه که نه تنها برای آگاهی از نژاد پرستی و روایت سیاه پوستان (یا بهتره بگم آفریقایی-آمریکایی ها)، بلکه برای فهمیدن اینکه ما آدما شاید در ظاهر فکر کنیم مشکلاتمون باهم فرق میکنه اما در ریشه اشتراکاتمون بیشتر از اون چیزیه که تصور میکنیم، این کتاب رو بخونید.
حس میکنم مدت ها قراره ذهنم درگیر این کتاب و تک تک جملاتش باشه. حتما حتما به همه پیشنهادش میکنم حتی فقط واسه افزایش اطلاعات عمومیتون.
من تا به حال کتابی غیرداستانی یا جوری که الان میگن «ناداستان» درباره نژاد پرستی و چیزی که بر سر سیاه پوستان گذشته نخونده بودم.
اطلاعات کلی ای بعد از قضایای جورج فلوید داشتم ولی این کتاب یه در جدید رو برام باز کرد که تا الان حتی فکر نمیکردم برام اهمیتی داشته باشه و لازمش داشته باشم.
اول از همه واقعا قلم جیمز بالدوین قویه جوری که در کمتر از صد صفحه یه نگاه کلی به مسئله سیاه پوست بودن در آمریکا میندازه، دلیلش و ریشش رو نشونت میده و در طی کتاب راه حل این مشکل رو جلوی پات میذاره. راه حلی که در تئوری سادست ولی در عمل قرن هاست که نتونسته به واقعیت بپیونده.
این کتاب سال ۱۹۶۲ نوشته شده. قطعا با گذشت ۶۰ سال ازش چیزای زیادی تغییر کرده ولی عمق و ریشه ماجرا که توی کتاب به تصویر کشیده میشه هنوز همونه، بدون اینکه ذره ای بهتر بشه. (به نظر من اگه بهتر میشد هرگز ماجرای جورج فلوید پیش نمیومد. فقط ظاهر قضیه توی چند سال اخیر عوض شده اما بطن ماجرا هنوز گندیده.)
توی مقدمه مترجم میگه: «سیاه در آمریکا بی شباهت به زن در برخی کشور های دیگر نیست.»
به نظرم همین جمله باید کافی باشه که نه تنها برای آگاهی از نژاد پرستی و روایت سیاه پوستان (یا بهتره بگم آفریقایی-آمریکایی ها)، بلکه برای فهمیدن اینکه ما آدما شاید در ظاهر فکر کنیم مشکلاتمون باهم فرق میکنه اما در ریشه اشتراکاتمون بیشتر از اون چیزیه که تصور میکنیم، این کتاب رو بخونید.
حس میکنم مدت ها قراره ذهنم درگیر این کتاب و تک تک جملاتش باشه. حتما حتما به همه پیشنهادش میکنم حتی فقط واسه افزایش اطلاعات عمومیتون.
June 19, 2024
برای درک مسأله سیاه و مشکلات نژادی توصیه میشه.
February 26, 2021
Published by The New Yorker in 1962
"People are not, for example, terribly anxious to be equal (equal, after all, to what and to whom?) but they love the idea of being superior. And this human truth has an especially grinding force here, where identity is almost impossible to achieve and people are perpetually attempting to find their feet on the shifting sands of status."
"People are not, for example, terribly anxious to be equal (equal, after all, to what and to whom?) but they love the idea of being superior. And this human truth has an especially grinding force here, where identity is almost impossible to achieve and people are perpetually attempting to find their feet on the shifting sands of status."
February 2, 2023
پس بنا بود ملکوت صرفاً گتویی دیگر باشد؟
December 20, 2021
to accept one's past —one's history— is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it.
December 17, 2024
A Scathing Indictment of Racial Injustice - A Timeless Classic
Rating: 5/5 stars
James Baldwin's "Letter from a Region in My Mind" (later published in book form as "The Fire Next Time") is a masterpiece of American literature that continues to resonate with unflinching relevance today. This seminal work is a deeply personal and philosophical exploration of the African American experience, written in Baldwin's characteristically lyrical and incisive prose.
The "letter" is addressed to Baldwin's nephew, James, and serves as a powerful warning about the dangers of racism and the importance of embracing one's identity. With unflinching honesty, Baldwin recounts his own experiences growing up in Harlem, struggling with the contradictions of being black in America, and grappling with the complexities of faith and morality.
Throughout the letter, Baldwin unleashes a scathing indictment of racial injustice, excoriating the hypocrisy and complacency that perpetuate systemic racism. He writes with prophetic urgency, his words dripping with a sense of outrage and sorrow. Yet, even in the face of overwhelming oppression, Baldwin's letter is infused with a sense of hope and resilience, urging his nephew to resist the forces of hatred and to find strength in his own identity.
Baldwin's prose is breathtakingly beautiful, with sentences that unfold like jazz improvisations, rich in rhythm and nuance. His writing is both deeply personal and universally relatable, speaking to the human condition in all its complexity.
"Letter from a Region in My Mind" is a work of staggering importance, a clarion call to consciousness that demands to be read and re-read. It is a testament to Baldwin's genius that his words continue to burn with relevance today, illuminating the dark recesses of American racism and inspiring new generations of readers to join the struggle for justice and equality.
In short, "Letter from a Region in My Mind" is an American classic, a masterpiece of literary activism that will continue to haunt and inspire readers for generations to come.
Copyright ©️ Sharon Dorival
Rating: 5/5 stars
James Baldwin's "Letter from a Region in My Mind" (later published in book form as "The Fire Next Time") is a masterpiece of American literature that continues to resonate with unflinching relevance today. This seminal work is a deeply personal and philosophical exploration of the African American experience, written in Baldwin's characteristically lyrical and incisive prose.
The "letter" is addressed to Baldwin's nephew, James, and serves as a powerful warning about the dangers of racism and the importance of embracing one's identity. With unflinching honesty, Baldwin recounts his own experiences growing up in Harlem, struggling with the contradictions of being black in America, and grappling with the complexities of faith and morality.
Throughout the letter, Baldwin unleashes a scathing indictment of racial injustice, excoriating the hypocrisy and complacency that perpetuate systemic racism. He writes with prophetic urgency, his words dripping with a sense of outrage and sorrow. Yet, even in the face of overwhelming oppression, Baldwin's letter is infused with a sense of hope and resilience, urging his nephew to resist the forces of hatred and to find strength in his own identity.
Baldwin's prose is breathtakingly beautiful, with sentences that unfold like jazz improvisations, rich in rhythm and nuance. His writing is both deeply personal and universally relatable, speaking to the human condition in all its complexity.
"Letter from a Region in My Mind" is a work of staggering importance, a clarion call to consciousness that demands to be read and re-read. It is a testament to Baldwin's genius that his words continue to burn with relevance today, illuminating the dark recesses of American racism and inspiring new generations of readers to join the struggle for justice and equality.
In short, "Letter from a Region in My Mind" is an American classic, a masterpiece of literary activism that will continue to haunt and inspire readers for generations to come.
Copyright ©️ Sharon Dorival
February 17, 2025
کتاب دفعه بعد، آتش (The Fire Next Time) نوشتهی جیمز بالدوین، اثری تأثیرگذار در ادبیات آمریکایی است که در سال ۱۹۶۳ منتشر شد. این کتاب شامل دو مقالهی بلند است که به بررسی مسائل نژادی، تاریخی و اجتماعی در ایالات متحده، بهویژه دربارهی تجربهی سیاهپوستان، میپردازد. بالدوین در این کتاب نگاهی عمیق و انتقادی به نژادپرستی، روابط بین سیاهان و سفیدپوستان، مذهب و آیندهی آمریکا دارد.
محتوای کتاب:
۱. نامهای به برادرزادهام در صدمین سالگرد آزادی
این بخش نامهای خطاب به برادرزادهی ۱۴ سالهی بالدوین است که در آن نویسنده از چالشهای زندگی به عنوان یک سیاهپوست در آمریکا میگوید. او در این نامه تلاش میکند حقیقت تلخ تبعیض نژادی را نشان دهد و همزمان امیدی برای تغییر آینده به تصویر بکشد. بالدوین در این بخش تأکید میکند که سفیدپوستان آمریکا نیز در بند نژادپرستی خودشان گرفتار شدهاند و رهایی واقعی تنها زمانی ممکن است که همه، بدون توجه به نژاد، حقیقت را بپذیرند.
۲. دفعه بعد، آتش
مقالهی دوم که نام کتاب نیز از آن گرفته شده، تحلیلی جامعتر از نژادپرستی در آمریکا است. بالدوین در این بخش تجربیات شخصی خود از بزرگ شدن در هارلم، نقش مذهب، جنبش ملت اسلام (Nation of Islam) و شخصیتهای مهمی چون مالکوم ایکس را بررسی میکند. او به ارتباط پیچیدهی سیاهپوستان با مسیحیت و اسلام میپردازد و از آمریکا میخواهد که مسئولیت تاریخی خود را در قبال ظلم و بیعدالتی بپذیرد. عنوان این مقاله از آیهای در کتاب مقدس الهام گرفته که هشدار میدهد اگر آمریکا تغییری نکند، “دفعه بعد، آتش” خواهد آمد
محتوای کتاب:
۱. نامهای به برادرزادهام در صدمین سالگرد آزادی
این بخش نامهای خطاب به برادرزادهی ۱۴ سالهی بالدوین است که در آن نویسنده از چالشهای زندگی به عنوان یک سیاهپوست در آمریکا میگوید. او در این نامه تلاش میکند حقیقت تلخ تبعیض نژادی را نشان دهد و همزمان امیدی برای تغییر آینده به تصویر بکشد. بالدوین در این بخش تأکید میکند که سفیدپوستان آمریکا نیز در بند نژادپرستی خودشان گرفتار شدهاند و رهایی واقعی تنها زمانی ممکن است که همه، بدون توجه به نژاد، حقیقت را بپذیرند.
۲. دفعه بعد، آتش
مقالهی دوم که نام کتاب نیز از آن گرفته شده، تحلیلی جامعتر از نژادپرستی در آمریکا است. بالدوین در این بخش تجربیات شخصی خود از بزرگ شدن در هارلم، نقش مذهب، جنبش ملت اسلام (Nation of Islam) و شخصیتهای مهمی چون مالکوم ایکس را بررسی میکند. او به ارتباط پیچیدهی سیاهپوستان با مسیحیت و اسلام میپردازد و از آمریکا میخواهد که مسئولیت تاریخی خود را در قبال ظلم و بیعدالتی بپذیرد. عنوان این مقاله از آیهای در کتاب مقدس الهام گرفته که هشدار میدهد اگر آمریکا تغییری نکند، “دفعه بعد، آتش” خواهد آمد
October 31, 2022
"One is responsible to life: It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we shall return. One must negotiate this passage as nobly as possible, for the sake of those who are coming after us."
March 1, 2024
This is the first thing by James Baldwin I've read, and it won't be the last. Really interesting ideas in this, the only downside I found was that I listened to this as an audiobook and wasn't crazy about the narrator.
August 1, 2021
James Baldwin is a prophet but that is too simplistic. His words are relevant now and then as America's original sin has never been tackled.
January 24, 2024
I read this as part of my university coursework and it is hugely inspiring. A good read and reference piece for a different insight into the American Civil Rights movement than MLK or Malcolm X.
July 2, 2025
This chipped away at great chunk of apathy, which I felt rattle down my chest and settle somewhere a little deeper. The sun is shining today
August 23, 2025
⭐️2.5
A whole yap fest but it was a decently good message I suppose.
A whole yap fest but it was a decently good message I suppose.
September 29, 2025
Truly one of the most powerful, profound, and inspiring pieces I’ve ever read.
February 3, 2022
We all need to read a little James Baldwin once in a while. Baldwin wrote creative nonfiction like no one else. His essays read both as incredibly ahead of their time and a little old-fashioned in a 2022 context. They're ahead of their time in terms of content and style, but they're also a bit out of step with what we think of as the modern non-fiction essay. After all, no one was giving Baldwin a word count limit.
October 12, 2021
4.5/5 - The Fire Next Time: Part 2/2
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