The Cross of Redemptionis a revelation by an American literary master: a gathering of essays, articles, polemics, reviews, and interviews that have never before appeared in book form.
James Baldwin was one of the most brilliant and provocative literary figures of the past century, renowned for his fierce engagement with issues haunting our common history. InThe Cross of Redemptionwe have Baldwin discoursing on, among other subjects, the possibility of an African-American president and what it might mean; the hypocrisy of American religious fundamentalism; the black church in America; the trials and tribulations of black nationalism; anti-Semitism; the blues and boxing; Russian literary masters; and the role of the writer in our society.
Prophetic and bracing,The Cross of Redemptionis a welcome and important addition to the works of a cosmopolitan and canonical American writer who still has much to teach us about race, democracy, and personal and national identity. As Michael Ondaatje has remarked, “If van Gogh was our nineteenth-century artist-saint, Baldwin [was] our twentieth-century one.”
INTRODUCTION Looking for James Baldwin
ESSAYS AND SPEECHES Mass Culture and the Creative Artist: Some Personal Notes
A Word from Writer Directly to Reader
From
Nationalism, Colonialism,and
the United States: One Minute to Twelve—A ForumTheater: The Negro In and Out
Is
A Raisin in the Suna Lemon in the Dark?
As Much Truth as One Can Bear
Geraldine Page: Bird of Light
From
What’s the Reason Why?: A Symposium by Best-Selling Authors:James Baldwin on
Another Country The Artist’s Struggle for Integrity
We Can Change the Country
Why I Stopped Hating Shakespeare
The Uses of the BlS×