Next Up: Go Tell It On The Mountain
James Baldwin
“Temple of the Fire Baptized.”
That’s the name of the church featured in Go Tell it on the Mountain. And that name–”Temple of the Fire Baptized”–tells me some serious hellfire and brimstone preaching is going on up in there. Some shouting, some dancing, some flat out getting down.
Go Tell it on the Mountain is a semi-autobiographical novel written by James Baldwin. The book examines the role of the church in the lives of African-Americans in Harlem in the 1930s. Having grown up in the church–albeit not an African-American church–I’m definitely intrigued by this novel.
Some quick facts:
- Published in 1953, Go Tell it on the Mountain was James Baldwin’s first novel.
- A made-for-television film, based on the novel, was released in 1984.
- The novel is a bildungsroman, a fancy literary term which means it follows the growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood.
- James Baldwin was a prolific author, writing 19 books–including other novels, plays, essays, poems, and short stories.
- Baldwin was a social and political activist who was very involved in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
- He also heavily influenced the works of Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou.
More to come on this novel and other faith-focused novels soon. Anyone familiar with Go Tell it on the Mountain or the other works of James Baldwin?
6 Comments
Post a comment
I read Another Country (which I don’t recall) and Giovanni’s Room (which I do because of the homosexual theme – an eye opener at the time for me). I like his descriptive prose and his sensibility.
This is my introduction to him, so I’m looking forward to it. Love books that deal with delicate issues like racism well.
I do, too. I am reading this one with you. He does not pull punches about how whites treated blacks. And he is also very observant (via the characters in the book) about some of the dysfunctional ways that blacks reacted to that treatment. Lots of incite.
I read THE FIRE NEXT TIME
It is the THE FIRE NEXT TIME. I’m done reading it. The book will really move you and very insightful. He has the ability to write descriptions of events so real that you become part of it.
Oooh! This one sounds interesting. I may take it up once I’ve finished one of these others.