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    James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son is a collection of essays exploring what it means to be Black in America during the 1940s and 1950s civil rights movement. Baldwin examines topics like protest novels, movies, Black expatriates, and life in Harlem. As one of the leading intellectuals of the era, Baldwin probes the complex experience of Blackness in America with a keen eye through intimate portraits and pointed criticism. The essays established Baldwin as an influential social critic and interpreter of the dramatic social changes in the U.S. during the 20th century.

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    James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son is a collection of essays exploring what it means to be Black in America during the 1940s and 1950s civil rights movement. Baldwin examines topics like protest novels, movies, Black expatriates, and life in Harlem. As one of the leading intellectuals of the era, Baldwin probes the complex experience of Blackness in America with a keen eye through intimate portraits and pointed criticism. The essays established Baldwin as an influential social critic and interpreter of the dramatic social changes in the U.S. during the 20th century.

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    848 views5 pages

    Notes of A Native Son by James Baldwin

    Uploaded by

    lamecebi
    James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son is a collection of essays exploring what it means to be Black in America during the 1940s and 1950s civil rights movement. Baldwin examines topics like protest novels, movies, Black expatriates, and life in Harlem. As one of the leading intellectuals of the era, Baldwin probes the complex experience of Blackness in America with a keen eye through intimate portraits and pointed criticism. The essays established Baldwin as an influential social critic and interpreter of the dramatic social changes in the U.S. during the 20th century.

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    of 5

    Notes of a Native Son

    By
    James Baldwin
    Beacon Press
    #26 on The Guardian's list of 100 best nonfiction books of all
    time, the essays explore what it means to be Black in America

    In an age of Black Lives Matter, James Baldwin's essays on life in


    Harlem, the protest novel, movies, and African Americans abroad
    are as powerful today as when they were first written. With films
    like I Am Not Your Negro and the forthcoming If Beale Street Could
    Talk bringing renewed interest to Baldwin's life and work, Notes of
    a Native Son serves as a valuable introduction.

    Written during the 1940s and early 1950s, when Baldwin was only
    in his twenties, the essays collected in Notes of a Native Son capture
    a view of black life and black thought at the dawn of the civil rights
    movement and as the movement slowly gained strength through the
    words of one of the most captivating essayists and foremost
    intellectuals of that era. Writing as an artist, activist, and social
    critic, Baldwin probes the complex condition of being black in
    America. With a keen eye, he examines everything from the
    significance of the protest novel to the motives and circumstances of
    the many black expatriates of the time, from his home in “The
    Harlem Ghetto” to a sobering “Journey to Atlanta.”

    Notes of a Native Son inaugurated Baldwin as one of the leading


    interpreters of the dramatic social changes erupting in the United
    States in the twentieth century, and many of his observations have
    proven almost prophetic. His criticism on topics such as the
    paternalism of white progressives or on his own friend Richard
    Wright’s work is pointed and unabashed. He was also one of the
    few writing on race at the time who addressed the issue with a
    powerful mixture of outrage at the gross physical and political
    violence against black citizens and measured understanding of their
    oppressors, which helped awaken a white audience to the injustices
    under their noses. Naturally, this combination of brazen criticism
    and unconventional empathy for white readers won Baldwin as
    much condemnation as praise.

    Notes is the book that established Baldwin’s voice as a social critic,


    and it remains one of his most admired works. The essays collected
    here create a cohesive sketch of black America and reveal an
    intimate portrait of Baldwin’s own search for identity as an artist, as
    a black man, and as an American.

    Beacon Press

    Read or download the full book on


    USLIB.NET

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