This is an excellent collection of articles/essays by the late James Baldwin.

He left the US for Paris at one point because he felt he could not survive “the fury of the colour problem” there.

He writes about being a Negro and also being an American writer.

He introduced me to Richard Wright, a renowned black American writer, who, among other books, wrote “”Black Boy”. He tells us it is the study of “the growing up of a Negro boy in the Deep South, and is one of the major American autobiographies”.

Wright was one of the speakers at a conference of Negro-African writers and artists in Paris in 1956, which Baldwin attended, and we are given the content of Wright’s speech.

Baldwin tells us about Harlem and that “Negroes want to be treated like men”.

He discusses the differences between the South and the North (of the US).

He quotes a black friend as saying “The spirit of the South is the Spirit of America”.

He tells us “the South is not merely an embarassingly backward region, but a part of this country, and what happens there concerns every one of us”.

For the Northener, “Negroes represent nothing to him personally except, perhaps, the dangers of carnality”. “He never sees Negroes, Southerners see them all the time. Northerners never think about them whereas Southerners are never really thinking of anything else. Negroes are, therefore, ignored in the North and under surveillance in the South, and suffer hideously in both places. Neither the Southerner nor the Northerner is able to look on the Negro simply as a man.”

This book was written many years ago; I hope that what Baldwin wrote then has become outdated. I don’t know because I've never been to the US at any time.

There’s an article/chapter about Faulkner and desegregation and an interesting description of Baldwin’s visit to Sweden, where he visited Ingrid Bergman. He gives us a detailed account of the intricacies of their conversation.

There is also a chapter describing Baldwin’s complicated relationship with Richard Wright, and one about his relationship with Norman Mailer.

I found these latter chapters wonderfully illuminating both as regards Baldwin’s and the others’ characters/personalities.

Although this volume may seem and in fact is rather obsolete, I found many of the chapters fascinating. I would highly recomend that any reader at all interested in Baldwin or his work read this book, if it can still be obtained. ( )

I enjoy reading essay collections from the '50s, '60s and '70s because they are from another time that, nonetheless, still feels somewhat contemporary. This excellent collection, unfortunately, feels too contemporary. During these Black Lives Matter days, that a book written 60 years ago should feel so currently on-point is, while fascinating, quite disturbing. ( )

2019
https://www.librarything.com/topic/306026#6869955 ( )

These are essays about American identity, black identity and writing, and while they didn't inspire me as much as Baldwin's novels I've read I enjoyed them. ( )

Nobody Knows My Name is a collection of essays continued from Notes From a Native Son. While the essays are less biting than those in Notes they are just as honest and clear about the Negro condition at the time of Baldwin's writing. He has a sharp eye for the social and economical position of the time. As he was frequenting Paris I find it interesting that for Baldwin the question of color did not exist in Europe whereas in America he was afraid to listen to Bessie Smith or even touch watermelon. It is in Europe that Baldwin discovered what it mean to be an American. ( )