Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin - Softcover

Campbell, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520231309 ISBN 13: 9780520231306

Publisher: University of California Press, 2002

Synopsis

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."

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

"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

About the Author:

James Campbell is the author of This Is the Beat Generation: New York, San Francisco, Paris (California, 2001), Exiled in Paris: Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Samuel Beckett and Others on the Left Bank, and Invisible Country: A Journey through Scotland. He works for the Times Literary Supplement.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0520231309
• ISBN 13: 9780520231306
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 326