A compilation of pieces written from 1948 to 1955, all concerning contemporary African-American life and culture. The first part consists of various reviews: Baldwin is quite dismissive of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which he says is not a novel so much as a pamphlet. Seems funny to review a hundred-year-old book, but I guess it was relevant to the tumultuous times Baldwin was living in.
He also reviews a film called Carmen Jones, an African-American version of Bizet’s opera Carmen. Is this as strange as it sounds? Baldwin certainly thinks so. He didn’t even like Harry Belafonte’s performance, though to be fair it seems the deficiencies were already in the script, and the whole concept.
The rest of the book is more informed by Baldwin’s own history. He lived through a lot of difficult times, as did all African-Americans in the middle of the 20th century. He writes evocatively and his stories are interesting and compelling. He does write with a lot of certainty though – he is pretty sure he is right about a lot of things, and overuses words like “therefore” to embellish his opinions, thoughtful though they may be.
I wouldn’t say this book is dated; rather it feels to me that it is very much of its time. But what do I know? It was long before my time.