Nobody Knows My Name
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Nobody Knows My Name - J Baldwin - BR Maya - Sofia June 2016
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Maya
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Jul 04, 2016 12:28PM
huh, ok, I found a good explanation here: The Gay '90s: Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Formations in Queer Studies - I can see for free couple of pages from the book on Google Books and it's a text about this essay. going to send you screen shots via Facebook message in a minute.
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sent you the text on Fb.So this analysis basically says that Baldwin is accusing Gide for being a misogynist because of the way he treated his wife and his marriage. If we accept that explanation then the paragraph in your message above I take it as meaning that the relationship with a woman should always be based on respect, respect for her as an equal human being.
I must admit though, I wouldn't have come to that conclusion if I hadn't read that text.
Thanks for that link Maya, i wish they let us read more, i found a couple of thesis as well but it's only the first page i got access too.Yes from what i gathered JB was talking about personal truths, seeing things for what they were rather than nicely labeling them otherwise. I knew that already about him so this is not surprising.
Working backward:
If to love and respect his wife (open a communion with her) he needs to be aware of his own needs and feelings so that he does not attribute false justifications to why he does not touch his wife that would be lying. Such self awareness would be ideal.
Still i would like more understanding, but it's already better.
I found this which gives a different look at his viewshttps://introqueerlit.wordpress.com/2...
Which would gives us a JB not convinced that two homosexuals can form a lasting partnership. Certainly his experiences did favour this view. We've often wanted more for him Maya.
Maya I found this article very interesting, informative and full of the same kind of questions I have. http://thefanzine.com/james-baldwin-u...
Sofia wrote: "Maya I found this article very interesting, informative and full of the same kind of questions I have. http://thefanzine.com/james-baldwin-u..."
agreed, that was a very thoughtful text. thanks for sharing.
"Indeed, Baldwin must have known that claiming a more public homosexual identity would have disqualified him from assuming a more prominent leadership role in the civil rights movement, but in the end this happened anyway, to a large extent, as rumor and innuendo earned him what is, let’s face it, the rather witty nickname, Martin Luther Queen."
Yeah :D. - I'm always thirsty for more and we got a bit here.
will catch up with you tonight. big development at work today. fb message later.
Maya wrote: "will catch up with you tonight. big development at work today. fb message later."
(view spoiler)
sent you a pm :)btw, did you see that the guy who wrote the article in thefanzine.com is "he’s currently writing a book about his search for the untold story behind James Baldwin’s collaboration with the French artist Yoran Cazac." ?
Sofia wrote: "The Northern Protestant I liked the contrasts her between him and Bergman. Bergman is on the same journey Baldwin is but his obstacles are different, so the work will be different in a way as it r..."yes, i think JB realized at this meeting that even though they see the world in a similar way the difference is that he still hasn't reconciled with his past, there's still a lot of bitterness in him while Bergman is already 'at home', at peace.
Creating art seems to be a form of necessary relief for the artists. they need to take out that inner anguish and their art is the way to do it. So yes, their art is a reflection of their selves.
will try to read a bit of the next essay tonight.
Would you believe i was just looking him up as i liked his style :D
Yoran was one of the young ones I think, am i correct?I've only read the first bit f the next essay. I think at some point we should at lest read a short of Richard Wright.
Sofia wrote: "Yoran was one of the young ones I think, am i correct?I've only read the first bit f the next essay. I think at some point we should at lest read a short of Richard Wright."
yes, one of them. Trying to remember if he was married too (like Lucien).
we'll get to RW one day :)
Sofia wrote: "Alas Poor Richard "Read the first two sections last night, still to read the third. planning to do so in my break.
yes, definitely he's trying to sort out his feelings about RW and the conflict they had. I thought he presented the facts objectively - they both made mistakes, some caused by their own characters and age, others by the different paths they have chosen. I think for me the strongest part of this essay is when JB says that RW is one of the most illustrious victims of the war between white and black .
"Richard was able, at last, to live in Paris exactly as he would have lived, had he been a white man, here, in America. This may seem desirable, but I wonder if it is. Richard paid the price such an illusion of safety demands. The price is a turning away from, an ignorance of, all of the powers of darkness."
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/374955want to read this article too but it's too long so I'm saving it here.
going to sit down and read this soon
I read it in conjunction with the diverse article as well, which helped a bit.Who is to say who has the right view of the world, of reality? We are all fooled in some way or another. Ok we all have moments of clarity maybe some more than other's but totally clarity would me as n a kind of detachment which would not allow us to take part in that reality.
i don't think it's about right and wrong. It's more about how the different views would affect/change the future in different ways.As I understand it JB says both Richard Wright and Norman Mailer had old views relying on stereotypes made by the white people and that these views would not lead to solution of the negro problem but hinder it.
i thought overall the tone of this collection of essays was more somber that Notes on a Native Son. Like the more time passed the less hopeful he was. And the ending of every essay was a very strong appeal to its readers to do things now, in the present.I felt like he thought he was running out of time.
I did find him kind of more mature. I think with accepting that to continue in his path he needed to go back and face America closed a chapter for him and spurted a leap forwards. This was published in 1961 he still had a couple of decades of writing in his sleeves. But probably we are feeling his growing up (I think this was the time his health and depression kicked in.)Maya I've added Links to our JB page of google docs so that we can find the links we encounter as we read in an easier manner. Please add to it :D
If we continue reading the books according to publishing date the next one is The Fire Next Time - another essay book.
Today I was watching the upheaval in Minnesota because of the shooting of a black man by police officers - and a commentator was talking about how 'black' means danger, trouble to white Americans including police officers. How studies have been done to show that American whites perceive more danger in the same act if it is done by a black person rather than a white one. I hate that this fight is still so bloody contemporary.
great, thanks!i've saved another link to read later:
https://theintercept.com/2015/08/15/f...
will add it in our file now :)
of course we are continuing. when shall we read The Fire?i think you're right: he wrote Black boy in 1961 and he talks about the end of his love in it. I think he was referring to Lucien.
i haven't watched any news today yet. will try to catch up tonight but this is horrible.
The Fire - we can do it in Aug or beg Sept after EM :D
let's set it for beginning of September, if i remember we talked about reading Adichie's other book in August?did you read her fiction story about Trump? So much fun!
ok notedI wanted to keep on reading the Trump story - I found her observations through Melania (her views on Trump, the rest of the family, the need for peace) observant and fun.
