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Another Country
by James Baldwin
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$15.00 |
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$10.20 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
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Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN13: 9780679744719
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Set in Greenwich Village, Harlem, and France, among other locales, Another Country is a novel of passions--sexual, racial, political, artistic--that is stunning for its emotional intensity and haunting sensuality, depicting men and women, blacks and whites, stripped of their masks of gender and race by love and hatred at the most elemental and sublime. In a small set of friends, Baldwin imbues the best and worst intentions of liberal America in the early 1970s.
| Customer Reviews: |
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| "Another Country--but which one ?" |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Somebody wrote that the past is another country. This is certainly true, but Baldwin was writing about contemporary America at the time, so by `another country' he didn't mean the past. Now, though, all the old hipster language, the incredible reliance on smoking and drinking, and the tons of race hatred and racial hypocrisy that suffused the 1950s, definitely describe the past. Our hatreds, hypocrisies, and addictions have changed, our times throw up their own dilemmas. This most painful but powerful novel definitely will evoke another country now---America in the 1950s. But that wasn't Baldwin's intent.
To me, the lives of a few Bohemians in Manhattan are also another country to which I only travelled once or twice, as a kind of young, ersatz tourist in sneakers from New England. The complex relationships, the lack of concrete ambitions or perhaps the lack of concrete action towards realizing those ambitions, the convoluted sexual connections, the addictions, the betrayals and jealousies---all belong to `another country', a world outside usual America in the 1950s and outside the life that most people have to live.
Then, for White America in the 1950s, Black America was certainly another country, less-visited than Tibet. Baldwin hammers home his views on black-white relationships and interactions, views that were red hot in 1961, but rather passe now. But was this the "other country" he wanted to depict in the novel ? He has six main characters and two minor ones. Only two are black. If Black America was his "other country" he certainly went about describing it in a strange way.
For straight people, homosexual or bisexual relationships are "another country". Baldwin wrote about this very vividly too. Fifty years ago homosexuality was shocking and a perfect representation of "otherness" for most people. He himself lived in that other, unknown country, and perhaps to escape the violence and hatred of both gender and race bigotry, he exiled himself, as does Eric in the novel, to another country across the ocean.
Real, lasting love with honesty is scarce in any era. Perhaps those few people who attain such a state can be said to live in another country, uncharted and undiscovered by the majority. Do any of the characters in ANOTHER COUNTRY actually reach this country ? You'll have to decide for yourself, but you can be sure that Baldwin stresses the pain and anguish it takes to get there. You might say that this novel focusses too tightly on a small, ingrown group of rather unatttractive people living in an unappealing bohemian mess. Betrayal, anger, suicide, weakness, jealousy, violent passions, and raw ambition mark the pages. But Baldwin's masterly insight into human nature, his views of America's race problems in his time, and his wonderful descriptions of New York make this a classic novel, one of 20th century America's best. I found it a painful but gripping experience. The question of which "country" he writes about must be answered in each reader's mind.
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| He had it but he lost it |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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For the first 75 relentless pages of this novel you know you are in the hands of a consumate artist. The brutal story of Rufus, a now homeless but once gifted, jazz drummer, starts off grim and gets progressively grimmer. Baldwin's mix of rage and compassion is breathtaking and very emotionally effecting.
After the fury and punch in the gut honesty of the first 75 pages, we get 300 pages of stilted, tin-ear dialogue, cocktail party chit chat and purple "zexy zexy" prose. Baldwin lost his edge somewhere along the way. He had it without a doubt. But somehow he lost it.
We also get the character of a bisexual actor who cures both men and women of the their emotional problems simply by going to bed with them.
Which is a heck of a party trick.
Neither of the major female characters quite manage to come alive and the story of the interracial love affair that probably was very daring in its day is rather dull, unconvincing and lifeless today.
After a furious sprint to start, Another Country dissipates and dissipates and finally limps to the finish.
I am tempted to think the first chapter of this book was written when Baldwin was still young and unknown and the rest was written after he had a few bestsellers and he had found the literary party circuit. That is purely conjecture on my part, but part of this book seemed to be written by a hungry lion and the rest of the book seems to have been written by a bloated fat cat. Just theorizing though.
Frustrating for what this book could have been. Because for a while there it came very close to being the best and bravest book ever written by an American. But midway through, he lost the edge.
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| AMAZING |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I had my book shipped to me in no time! The quality was superb and overall the service was excellent! No complaints here.
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| Without ? |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Baldwin has been buried in our community because of his sexuality. I can even admit hesitation when i 1st picked up a copy of Giovanni's Room from my local library. But after i was sucked into this world Balwin created, i knew how powerful a writter he truly was. Another Country is no different. These characters are so real and the outcome of real life can be ugly - Baldwin makes sure that we see the ugliness in life as well as the sweet times we rarely pay attention to. Before race relations were vougue, Baldwin tackled these stories head on.
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| Homosexuality and Interracial relationships in a not so friendly time |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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I had to read this book for one of my classes in college and I was glad I was assigned to it. It touched basis on all political and talked about issues that still occure even to this day, even though it was written around 40 years ago. Bravo to the author and it's a good read with a nice plot.
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