A Short Visit with an "Old Friend": James Baldwin

Ever since I read Giovanni's Room in high school, I've always thought of James Baldwin as my friend. I know this is kind of wierd, because I never had the honor of meeting Mr. Baldwin and I've often wondered if we would even get along. As a child of privilege in almost all-white Winnetka, Illinois, I had almost nothing in common with James Baldwin. As a teenager I actually found myself wondering if we would be sexually compatible. I suspected we would not and this simple realization made me conclude that a relationship probably have been impossible. (Congreve was onto something when he wrote that "Hell hath no fury..." line, but he could have easily ended it with "...like a gay man scorned.") None of this, however, could change my original opinion. In my mind, James Baldwin forever remained my friend.

And so it was with much anticipation that I picked up the latest Baldwin biography. As the title suggests, Baldwin's Harlem: A Biography of James Baldwin deals as much with Mr. Baldwin's historical context as it does with his personal life. The author does not dwell on James Baldwin's sexuality, but neither does he skirt it. Reading this intelligent, skillfully-written biography, I grew to be the most impressed by James Baldwin's bravery. Because many of the most vicious attacks on him came from other African-Americans. And these attacks were often homophobic. None of these, of course, could stop him. Or even slow him down. He appears to have possessed inner resources the rest of us can only imagine.

Baldwin's Harlem is 272 pages long. It's a short visit with him. But nonetheless satisfying.

Herb Boyd's

Baldwin's Harlem: A Biography of James Baldwin

is published by Atria