Baldwin believed that great art should take on the sicknesses and psychoses of those who consume it, show them their flaws and failings, and offer them the chance to become well, to help those readers, listeners, and viewers to live into their full humanity.4 Baldwin said that a great artist was in a loving war with his culture, “and he does, at his best, what lovers do, which is to reveal the beloved to himself, and with that revelation, make freedom real.”
