The Furious Passage of James Baldwin

The Furious Passage of James Baldwin

He was about ten, and puny for his age, when two Harlem patrolmen stopped him in an empty lot. Smug in their bias, snug in it, they amused themselves with speculation on his ancestry and probably sexual prowess while they frisked him. They him flat on his back....
4 3 2 1

4 3 2 1

So there they were in July 1961, about to set off for Camp Paradise at the start of that eventful summer when all the news from the outside world seemed to be bad news: the wall going up in Berlin, Ernest Hemingway blasting a bullet through his skull in the mountains...
How to Write the Great American Indian Novel

How to Write the Great American Indian Novel

All of the Indians must have tragic features: tragic noses, eyes, and arms. Their hands and fingers must be tragic when they reach for tragic food. The hero must be a half-breed, half white and half Indian, preferably from a horse culture. He should often weep alone....
Burmese Days

Burmese Days

‘Ah, doctor,’ said Flory, supine in the long chair, ‘what a joy to be here after that bloody Club. When I come to your house I feel like a Nonconformist minister dodging up to town and going home with a tart. Such a glorious holiday from THEM’ — he motioned with one...
On Beauty

On Beauty

The bus approached. Levi did not notice it. At the last minute he stretched out his hand. The bus screeched and stopped a few feet ahead of him. He did his funky limp towards it. ‘Hey, man, how about a little more wah-ning next time?’ said the bus guy. He...