James Baldwin.

Catalog description

This course allows students to read important works from three major modes important in James Baldwin’s career--fiction, essay, and drama—and to explore the interrelationship of these modes in the articulation of Baldwin’s prophetic voice in 20th-century American society. Students will read Baldwin’s work in conversation with major critics, paying special attention to race, religion, masculinity, and sexuality as they play out in Baldwin’s writing, and will also consider how his work resounds in contemporary racial reckonings within the Unites States. Select film treatments of Baldwin’s work may also be included.