James Campbell
Talking at the Gates
A Life of James Baldwin
$21.95, paperback
9780520231306
Available Now
326 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 33 b/w photographs
January 2002, Only available in Include United States, Canada;
Also in: American Literature
January 2002, Only available in Include United States, Canada;
Also in: American Literature
James Baldwin was one of America's finest and most influential writers. By the time he died in 1987, his books, such as The Fire Next Time, Go Tell It on the Mountain, and Giovanni's Room, had become modern classics.
James Campbell knew Baldwin for ten years before Baldwin's death. For this book, he interviewed many of Baldwin's friends and examined several hundred pages of correspondence. He quotes from the vast and disturbing file that the FBI compiled on Baldwin and he discusses Baldwin's sometimes turbulent relationships with Norman Mailer, Richard Wright, and Marlon Brando, as well as his friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. Elegantly written, candid, and original, Talking at the Gates is a comprehensive account of the life and work of a writer who believed that "the unexamined life is not worth living."
James Campbell knew Baldwin for ten years before Baldwin's death. For this book, he interviewed many of Baldwin's friends and examined several hundred pages of correspondence. He quotes from the vast and disturbing file that the FBI compiled on Baldwin and he discusses Baldwin's sometimes turbulent relationships with Norman Mailer, Richard Wright, and Marlon Brando, as well as his friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. Elegantly written, candid, and original, Talking at the Gates is a comprehensive account of the life and work of a writer who believed that "the unexamined life is not worth living."
"Must reading for anyone interested in James Baldwin."—Gerald Early, Washington Post Book World
"Baldwin's best biographer."—Michael Anderson, New York Times Book Review
"Approaching Baldwin without reverence, though not quite irreverently, Campbell brings a mixture of intellectual integrity and something like truculence to the biographer's task. . . . [H]e plays along effectively with Baldwin's great zest for life, his love of the comic, his self-deprecating, balancing knowledge of himself as both poseur and prophet."—Arnold Rampersad, Times Literary Supplement (hardcover edition)
"Campbell has met the challenge and written a first-rate work. The best biography so far. . . . He deals not only with the facts of his subject's life but also with his works."—William J. Harris, Chicago Tribune
"A life-sized portrait in very bold strokes. . . . A lively book that is immensely readable, serious, careful, and informed."—Michael Thelwell, Boston Sunday Globe
"Frank and affectionate."—Times Literary Supplement, 3/22
"Baldwin's best biographer."—Michael Anderson, New York Times Book Review
"Approaching Baldwin without reverence, though not quite irreverently, Campbell brings a mixture of intellectual integrity and something like truculence to the biographer's task. . . . [H]e plays along effectively with Baldwin's great zest for life, his love of the comic, his self-deprecating, balancing knowledge of himself as both poseur and prophet."—Arnold Rampersad, Times Literary Supplement (hardcover edition)
"Campbell has met the challenge and written a first-rate work. The best biography so far. . . . He deals not only with the facts of his subject's life but also with his works."—William J. Harris, Chicago Tribune
"A life-sized portrait in very bold strokes. . . . A lively book that is immensely readable, serious, careful, and informed."—Michael Thelwell, Boston Sunday Globe
"Frank and affectionate."—Times Literary Supplement, 3/22
"Campbell's biography is scrupulously researched and also uncovers new material about Baldwin's life and offers a well-argued case for a re-reading of Baldwin's oeuvre. Campbell knew Baldwin well, but his affection for the man has not dulled his critical pen. When I first met Baldwin he referred me to Campbell as the man to talk to if I wished to know more about his life and work."—Caryl Phillips, author of The Atlantic Sound
Illustrations
Author's Note
Acknowledgements
I. No Story, Ma
II. Lord, I ain't No Stranger Now
III. A Severe Cross
IV. Tear This Building Down
V. The Price of the Beat
Afterward to the 2002 Edition
Abbreviations Used in Notes
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Author's Note
Acknowledgements
I. No Story, Ma
II. Lord, I ain't No Stranger Now
III. A Severe Cross
IV. Tear This Building Down
V. The Price of the Beat
Afterward to the 2002 Edition
Abbreviations Used in Notes
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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