ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Contemporary Literature 4 James Baldwin 82 Views
Share It!
Description:
What were the issues James Baldwin wrote about, and what was the significance of his short story "Sonny's Blues"? You don't know the answer? Fine...we guess we can explain, but mark our words: one of these days, we're going to kick up our feet, relax, and let you take the lead.
Transcript
- 00:00
Thank you We sneak in contemporary literature James baldwin lash
- 00:09
shmoop james baldwin um isn't always thought of in the
- 00:14
context of the beats particularly but he does belong with
- 00:17
beets because he's so countercultural So he was primarily based
- 00:21
in new york although he traveled all over the place
Full Transcript
- 00:24
on dh lived in europe for long periods of time
- 00:28
but basically he grew up in an incredibly abusive family
- 00:33
He himself did drugs at various plants but he was
- 00:37
also tremendously accomplished He was a minister and a rider
- 00:42
He knew all sorts of things and knew all sorts
- 00:44
of people and he wrote fiction and nonfiction and some
- 00:48
poetry as well So james baldwin's justin all around super
- 00:52
talented guy who cared a lot about queer issues he
- 00:57
cared a lot about racism in america and just generally
- 01:01
about social justice how people around him were being treated
- 01:05
unfairly and how they make their lives better What defines
- 01:10
james baldwin as a writer he's all over the place
- 01:13
So you have to really influential essays in the collection
- 01:17
notes on a native son where he participated in conversations
- 01:23
about race but also literature and like how literature wass
- 01:28
being produced in america you have giovanni's room which is
- 01:34
a really famous novel like an eye chronic lgbt novel
- 01:38
You have some novels that air maybe read less commonly
- 01:42
but are still really powerful like another country But the
- 01:46
one that we're talking about here is a short story
- 01:50
called sunny's blues which does kind of encapsulate you know
- 01:56
in just a few pages The story of two brothers
- 02:00
one of whom is addicted to heroin And he's also
- 02:03
a musician and kind of chronicles his younger brother's sad
- 02:08
fate And the older brother's struggle to come to terms
- 02:11
with it and understand how it happened and what it
- 02:14
means which is very characteristic of baldwin's Where What were
- 02:22
the issues james baldwin wrote about what's The significance of
- 02:26
this short story Sunny's blues
Up Next
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Related Videos
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...
