Randall Kenan, editor, discusses The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings of James Baldwin

Wed 9/29  7pm-8pm
Randall Kenan, editor,  discusses

The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings of James Baldwin

James Baldwin was one of the most brilliant and provocative literary figures of the past century, renowned for his fierce engagement with issues haunting our common history. In The Cross of Redemption  we have Baldwin discoursing on, among other subjects, the possibility of an African-American president and what it might mean; the hypocrisy of American religious fundamentalism; the black church in America; the trials and tribulations of black nationalism; anti-Semitism; the blues and boxing; Russian literary masters; and the role of the writer in society.

Prophetic and bracing, The Cross of Redemption is a welcome and important addition to the works of a cosmopolitan and canonical American writer who still has much to teach us about race, democracy, and personal and national identity. As Michael Ondaatje has remarked, “If van Gogh was our nineteenth-century artist-saint, Baldwin [was] our twentieth-century one.”

James Baldwin was born in 1924 and died in 1987. Among his more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction are Giovanni’s Room, Go Tell It on the Mountain, Notes of a Native Son, and The Fire Next Time.

Randall Kenan is the author of, among other books, the novel A Visitation of Spirits and the short story collection Let the Dead Bury Their Dead. He teaches creative writing at UNC Chapel Hill.

“There are gems in this collection compiled by Kenan (Let the Dead Bury the Dead): 'The Fight: Patterson vs. Liston' is as impeccably crafted as a short story; 'Blacks and Jews' captures the speaking Baldwin and echoes the call-and-response tradition. The 54 pieces, none previously appearing in book form, range from Baldwin's first published book review in 1947 to a 1984 colloquy with college students. Baldwin's topic can often be subsumed under race, but he most consistently wrestles with questions of moral integrity--in the language ('The Uses of the Blues'), in the artist's work ('Why I Stopped Hating Shakespeare'), in the assessment of history ('On Being White... and Other Lies'), and in one's personal life ('To Crush a Serpent'). Kenan's introduction and headnotes are models of critical good sense; his awareness of both 'Baldwin's achievements that beggar the imagination,' and of the 'grab bag' quality of some pieces makes him the perfect shepherd for these 'lost' works.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)