James Baldwin: A Biography, David Leeming, Alfred A Knopf, 1994, 388 pp
This is one of the best author biographies I have ever read. If I love or admire an author, and there is a biography available, I like to read it. Often I follow the author's life as I read their works. I did that with John Steinbeck and discovered that I enjoyed learning what was going on in his life as he wrote each novel.
I was going to follow that plan with James Baldwin but I got so involved with his personal story that I could not stop. David Leeming's way of revealing Baldwin is respectful and sensitive. He traces the man's development from an impoverished Harlem kid, son of a preacher, through the lucky breaks that gave him chances to build on his natural intelligence and improve his writing skills as well as figure out his sexual orientation and his place in the world. From all of that experience he became one of the leading Black writers of the 20th century.
Authors are not always "nice" people leading steady, secure lives. They are often driven by certain demons and James Baldwin was no exception. He suffered emotionally, he blazed with righteousness in many public situations, and I feel he created one of the most profound understandings of race relations in America ever.
I have read four of Baldwin's novels so far: Go Tell It on the Mountain, Giovanni's Room, Another Country, and If Beale Street Could Talk. Reading the biography was like taking a class from a really great professor. It deepened my understanding of those novels, both as to how he came to write them and some of the literary aspects I had either missed or not fully grasped.
David Leeming is a professor of literature. He was also a close friend of Baldwin's from 1961 until the author's death in 1988. Baldwin authorized Leeming to write his biography and left all his papers to him.
Now I look forward to reading the rest of James Baldwin's novels, stories and essay collections while having this book as a resource. I especially liked learning about Baldwin's relationships with Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and many other civil rights leaders, through which I got an excellent overview of the Black race's ongoing fight for freedom. That was James Baldwin's fight, his life and his obsession.
This is one I remember my grandma reading, she loved it! It’s been on my TBR forever!
ReplyDeleteSince you are a writer, you would love reading about his adventures as a writer!
DeleteI need to read this and I need to read more Baldwin. He was one of the great humanistic thinkers. I have been reading the books and essays of Thomas Chatterton Williams a modern humanist thinker writes a lot about race (you may notice that I retweet him sometimes) and he has been very influenced by Baldwin.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Brian, for introducing me to Thomas Chatterton Williams. I will read some of his work.
Deletei have to get some Baldwin to read; he was a big presence in the lit life of the 60's and later but i just never got a chance to read any of his work. now's the time! tx for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteGood, mudpuddle. Once I started to read Baldwin I could not get enough.
DeleteSounds excellent! I haven't read anything by Baldwin (yet) but do have a copy of 'Another Country'....somewhere..... [muses] I have watched some of his interviews and the famous Oxford debate. Plus I finally caught his documentary - I Am Not Your Negro - recently on the BBC which was awesome and I definitely recommend seeing it if you can.
ReplyDeleteI have seen I Am Not Your Negro. In fact that inspired me to buy the biography.
DeleteAs a Canadian, I am sadly ignorant of James Baldwin and his contribution ti American discourse.
ReplyDeleteHappily, perhaps Canada does not have the problem of racism that we have here.
DeleteI don't often read biographies or memoirs, but I might make an exception for this one.
ReplyDeleteI know this about you! If you were to make an exception, this would be an excellent choice. I did not sit and read it straight through. I read a chapter a day. It was so rich I needed the time in between to think about and absorb what I had read each day.
DeleteWow, that is quite the recommendation! I'm putting this biography on my TBR--quite timely for me, as I just read my first Baldwin, Giovanni's Room, last month. I will definitely be reading more of him.
ReplyDeleteYou have begun a great reading journey!
DeleteSounds great to me. And the author goes through & discusses each of Baldwin's books? Sounds like a good source to have. So far I've seen the Baldwin movie doc recently and read the Beale Street novel, but plan to get to more. I liked hearing in the doc about his relations with other leaders & writers -- very interesting. Thx for the review!
ReplyDeleteYes, that is what he does!
DeleteI really love that idea of reading a biography of an author as you are reading their works, what a fantastic idea! I keep saying I need to get on it with reading Baldwin, but I went to look for this bio in our library system and the book is available but not holdable - I have no idea what this means or why, but I will read it as soon as possible!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you like my idea! I do not know what your library means either. Good luck.
DeleteIt really makes so much sense. Authors write what they know, and how better to understand that aspect of their craft than to know what was going on in their lives at the time? You are so full of good ideas.
DeleteI'm definitely adding this to my list, I love a good biography!
ReplyDeleteI've recently bought one about the life of Abdelhak Nouri, a player form a Dutch Football Club that suffered from a heart attack and has been bed ridden ever since.
I feel that it really connects you to people you are interested in.
I agree about the connection a biography can give.
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