I have never read James Baldwin - there is no reason, so many books are (necessarily, due to time and energy) unread - but after seeing this twelve minute film by Sedat Pakay, From Another Place (1973), I was mesmerised, and bought Giovanni's Room. I did not know that Baldwin spent significant time in Istanbul. The film is exquisite, his voice seduced me and I had to have him.
Hillary Johnson, author of Osler's Web, has also recommended that I read Negroland, a memoir by Margo Jefferson, an American journalist and critic.
2 comments:
Baldwin's The Fire Next Time is unmissable if you want to climb inside his head. It goes very well with a modern perspective from Claudia Rankine's Citizen An American Lyric.
Hey, Thanks for the recommendations!
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