/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.10520445]

I don't think many American writers have been as realistic in looking at sexual and racial dynamics of America as James Baldwin. Whatever you say about his fiction - his non-fiction represents a unique insight into American social pathologies, and perhaps represent the best hope in solving them.

Of course, this is /lit/ so we have to hate all black people - but fuck it. I think he needs to be rescued from the SJW writers and activists who appropriate this language and writings. That and the fact that he's more concerned about identity, culture, and policy than metaphysical concepts of ontology and whether or not there's a good.

So I challenge this board - tell me why you dislike him (other than that he's gay and black). Why is he so unpopular on /lit and why shouldn't his ideas be given more relevant and honest attention on multiple sides of the political, cultural and social forces that shape the country.

[Anonymous No.10520456]

what are the sexual dynamics he describes?

[Anonymous No.10520501]

>>10520445
>this is /lit/ so we have to hate all black people
You're thinking of /pol/, my friend.
Baldwin was breddy gud but he gets lumped into the series of no-talent black american writers that are constantly shilled by leftists for political reasons (see: black woman authors)

The real question is how can anyone hate on "Big Papa" Thomas Sowell.

[Anonymous No.10520507]

>>10520445
I thought you would have learned after getting BTFO by /pol/ in your last thread

[Anonymous No.10520523]

>>10520445
>hey guys this author's nonfiction is really good
>but he's black so you'll hate him lol xD
>but I swear he's not le ess jay double you :DDD haha
>btw did I mention he's BLACK and GAY??! PROBLEM BIGITZ? XD
Is this your first post on /lit/ or something? You could have written that OP in like 3 sentences.

[Anonymous No.10520525]

>>10520507

I'm aware of what you're talking about. Though I'm not the guy who created that thread.

Tell me - why do you dislike Baldwin (other than he's a nigger). Which of his writing do you despise and why?

[Anonymous No.10520540]

We already learned that /lit/ is absolutely fucking retarded in the last thread. I'd say stop making this thread, but I'd really rather see the entire board eliminated.

[Anonymous No.10520542]

>>10520523

Earnestness over brevity - c'est la vie.

I should say that there was a post about Baldwin's contributions that was shat on by /pol/lacks.

See:
>>10520507

Also, lets are real this is 4chan - as soon as he's black the SJW/Nigger comments will come.

[Anonymous No.10520576]

>>10520542
This is a literature board. People care a lot more about the content of his writing than his race (not counting /pol/acks).
>this is 4chan
I've been posting on this site for almost a decade now, posts about niggers outside of /b/ have almost always been memes. I've only been posting on /lit/ for a couple of years now, but I don't think a few jokes here and there really hinder any actual discussion there is to be had.

[Anonymous No.10520628]

>>10520501

The thing about Baldwin - and it would be fascinating to see the two debate, is that he was by and large against the radicalism of his contemporaries on a personal level. He, however, understood where they came from.

He himself was infamously regarded as an Uncle Tom - he firmly believed that African American's fate was intertwined with America's fate and so he was firmly opposed the ethnostate solution proposed by many black nationalists of yesteryear and many white nationalists today. He was in fact quite chauvinistically western and loved French culture, cuisine, and living. He accepted whites as imperfect but insisted that so were blacks and believed that the solution of America's racial issues was through joint cooperation between the two groups and acceptance of differences, shortcomings, and mistakes for the greater good.

What's truly interesting is that he questions the nature of white and black, arguing one cannot exist without the other and that ultimately the best solution is an elimination of both categories. He favors a new civil rights movement led be so-called whites that reclaim European culture and identity from an unsophisticated, kitschy and ugly American blob of whiteness.

For Baldwin - people like Richard Spencer are just as ridiculous as those black guys on 42nd street who call themselves black Hebrews.They're seeking validation through three hundred-year-old social dynamics.

>>10520576
I think I offended you. I'm sorry and did not mean to get you so upset. I'm sure we can continue our discussion without talking about less savory people on this board.

What I like about his writing is that it is not metaphysical it is grounded, earthy and realist. His non-fiction is especially good because it takes on racial issues from both a white perspective - and it's obvious that he treats them as three-dimensional human beings with fears, needs, and imperfections.

Check out his The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings. It's amazing.

[Anonymous No.10520947]

/pol/ is trying to colonize us. There wasn't very much racist stuff (for 4chan) on here until recently. Same reason Culture of Critique gets shilled all the time.

[Anonymous No.10520958]

>>10520947
Just remember, sage and report.

What's your favorite Baldwin essay?

[Anonymous No.10520976]

>>10520958
I've never actually read any Baldwin. I'm just fed up with /pol/. Where's the best place to start with his fiction works?

[Anonymous No.10521009]

>>10520628
You know who had the right ideas about race relations in America? A guy called Charlie Manson. you might have heard of him, he made quite a name for himself, didn't he?. BLM doesn't go far enough: they should be burning down the suburbs and killing whites. I'm with Farrakhan, I'm with Kim and the Jihadis, America needs to go down imho, that's just how it is, total absence of sympathetic characters in this movie, for the love of god, please let the Chinese take over already, let it all come crashing down in a torrent of cathartic violence.

[Anonymous No.10521257]

>>10520976
my favorite of his fiction is "Go Tell it on the Mountain"
Not very long or difficult to read, but manages to hit so many topics of personality in america during the era of his childhood. Also, it's *technically* fiction, but has a whole lot of auto-biographical undertones