James Baldwin

This course is an introduction to the oeuvre of James Baldwin. Celebrity, Civil Rights spokesperson, social critic, and black queer writer of international renown, James Baldwin wrote prolifically over decades and across literary genres, including novels, essays, plays. He once characterized his trenchant critiques of the failures of US democracy as a practice of love. Foregrounding love as a mode of study, an ethic of care, and the practice of critique, our class will grapple lovingly with the life, literary and legacy of James Baldwin.