James Baldwin Review

Volume 1

Edited by Douglas Field, Justin A. Joyce, Dwight A. McBride

Publication date:

20 October 2015

Length of book:

228 pages

Publisher

Manchester University Press

Dimensions:

234x156mm

ISBN-13: 9781526121974

The James Baldwin Review (JBR) is an annual journal that brings together a wide array of peer-reviewed critical and creative work on the life, writings, and legacy of James Baldwin. In addition to these cutting-edge contributions, each issue contains a review of recent Baldwin scholarship and an award-winning graduate student essay. The James Baldwin Review publishes essays that invigorate scholarship on James Baldwin; catalyze explorations of the literary, political, and cultural influence of Baldwin’s writing and political activism; and deepen our understanding and appreciation of this complex and luminary figure.

It is the aim of the James Baldwin Review to provide a vibrant and multidisciplinary forum for the international community of Baldwin scholars, students, and enthusiasts.

Introduction: Baltimore is Still Burning: the Rising Relevance of James Baldwin – Justin A. Joyce, Douglas Field, Dwight A. McBride
ESSAYS
“But Amen is the Price:” James Baldwin and Ray Charles in “The Hallelujah Chorus” – Ed Pavlic
After Decolonization, After Civil Rights: Chinua Achebe and James Baldwin – Bill Schwarz
Prophecy and Doubt in Just Above My Head – Christopher Z. Hobson
“Here Be Dragons:” The Tyranny of the Cityscape in James Baldwin’s Intimate Cartographies – Emma Cleary
DISPATCHES
“I’m Trying to be as Honest as I Can:” An Interview with James Baldwin (1969) – Rich Blint, Nazar Büyüm
James Baldwin: Voyages in Search of Love – David Leeming
Going to Meet James Baldwin in Provence – D. Quentin Miller
BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Reading and Theorizing James Baldwin: A Bibliographic Essay – Conseula Francis
CONFERENCE REVIEWS
Exploring Baldwin in Montpellier: The 2014 “James Baldwin: Transatlantic Commuter” Conference – John Keene
Review of New York City’s “The Year of Baldwin” – Michele Elam
FORUM: CRITICAL CONVERSATIONS IN PROGRESS
James Baldwin and the Question of Privacy: A Roundtable Conversation at the 2014 American Studies Convention – Brian Norman, Aliyyah I. Abdur-Rahman, John E. Drabinski, Julius Fleming, Nigel Hatton, Dagmawi Woubshet, Magdalena Zaborowska
MULTI-MEDIA FEATURE ON “SONNY’S BLUES”
Evoking Baldwin’s Blues: The Experience of Dislocated Listening – Rashida K. Braggs
Sonny in the Dark: Jazzing the Blues Spirit and the Gospel Truth in James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” – Steven C. Tracy

If the first volume of JBR is any indication, then the editors have indeed assembled a vibrant and lively collection of powerful scholarship that demonstrates the vitality of Baldwin’s ideas and the continuing resonance of his work today.
African American Intellectual History Society