Title The evidence of things not said : James Baldwin and the promise of American democracy / Lawrie Balfour

Published Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 2001

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Description 1 online resource (xiv, 192 pages) Contents Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- CHAPTER ONE. Speaking of Race -- CHAPTER TWO. "A Most Disagreeable Mirror" -- CHAPTER THREE. Blessed Are the Victims? -- CHAPTER FOUR. Presumptions of Innocence -- CHAPTER FIVE. The Living Word -- AFTERWORD. Baldwin and the Search for a Majority -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index Summary The Evidence of Things Not Said employs the rich essays of James Baldwin to interrogate the politics of race in American democracy. Lawrie Balfour advances the political discussion of Baldwin's work, and regards him as a powerful political thinker whose work deserves full consideration. Baldwin's essays challenge appeals to race-blindness and formal but empty guarantees of equality and freedom. They undermine white presumptions of racial innocence and simultaneously refute theories of persecution that define African Americans solely as innocent victims. Unsettling fixed categories, Baldwin's essays construct a theory of race consciousness that captures the effects of racial identity in everyday experience. Balfour persuasively reads Baldwin's work alongside that of W.E.B. Du Bois to accentuate how double consciousness works differently on either side of the color line. She contends that the allusiveness and incompleteness of Baldwin's essays sustains the tension between general claims about American racial history and the singularity of individual experiences. The Evidence of Things Not Said establishes Baldwin's contributions to democratic theory and situates him as an indispensable voice in contemporary debates about racial injustice Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-185) and index Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Print version record Subject Baldwin, James, 1924-1987 -- Political and social views SUBJECT Baldwin, James, 1924-1987 -- Political and social views Baldwin, James, 1924-1987 fast Baldwin, James. swd Subject Politics and literature -- United States -- History and criticism Political fiction, American -- History and criticism African Americans -- Politics and government. African Americans in literature. Race relations in literature. Democracy in literature. Racism in literature. HISTORY -- United States -- 20th Century. African Americans in literature African Americans -- Politics and government Democracy in literature Political and social views Political fiction, American Politics and literature Race relations in literature Racism in literature Politische Literatur United States Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book ISBN 9781501720819 1501720813

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