Title: James Baldwin Abroad

Citations

National Museum of African American History and Culture. “10 Questions About the Life of James Baldwin,” July 29, 2019. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/chez-baldwin/faqs.

National Museum of African American History and Culture. “Baldwin in France,” August 2, 2019. https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/baldwin-france.

National Museum of African American History and Culture. “Baldwin in Switzerland,” August 2, 2019. https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/baldwin-switzerland.

National Museum of African American History and Culture. “Baldwin in Turkey,” August 2, 2019. https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/baldwin-turkey.

“Begin Again by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.: 9780525575320 | PenguinRandomHouse.Com: Books.” Accessed November 23, 2020. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/575725/begin-again-by-eddie-s-glaude-jr/.

Electric Literature. “James Baldwin’s Black Queer Legacy,” March 23, 2017. https://electricliterature.com/james-baldwins-black-queer-legacy/.

Bisexual Books. “Review - James Baldwin: A Biography by David Leeming.” Accessed November 21, 2020. https://bisexual-books.tumblr.com/post/90365637995/review-james-baldwin-a-biography-by-david.

Summary

James Baldwin, one of America’s best writers, did not have an easy life as a black, queer man during and after the Civil Rights movements. At the age of 24 Baldwin visited Paris, France in the hopes of finishing his first novel “Go Tell It On a Mountain” and a collection of essays that would become “Notes of a Native Son”. From across the Atlantic Ocean he had the space and time to think of his home, the U.S.A., in critical and creative ways. Since relocating to France in 1948 Baldwin spent the entire rest of his life (up to 1987) moving between the states and the countries he called home for short periods, such as Switzerland and Turkey. Our story would focus on his time abroad and the people that he surrounded himself with, such as the Swiss painter Lucien Happersberger who became his lover in 1949. Lucien and James loved each other intensely but the romantic relationship did not last very long. Baldwin went into a deep depression after Lucien got married to a woman. Their friendship did not cease though as Baldwin became the godfather to Lucien’s son, Luc. I want to present their love story as one that evolves all the way from 1949 to Baldwin’s death, one that captures the complexity of queer relationships that change with age and societal standards. It is also a story of mental health’s affect on Baldwin’s career.

Cultural Origins

While there are a lot of books and movies about Baldwin, very few of them give a comprehensive view of the man as a civil rights AND queer rights activist. His complexity as a public figure does make it difficult to create a complete image but Baldwin’s time abroad works as a microcosm from which we can extract his relationships to his nation, his race, and his sexuality. It also falls very neatly within artist travel narrative structure where the struggling (typically male) artist searches for peace and quiet to do their serious work, such as Vincent Van Gogh in Arles or Edmonia Lewis in Rome. To respectfully tell this story is to be aware of possible prejudices and fears that would frame the way a storyteller goes about its presentation. I think about how in the documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” directed by Raoul Peck about Baldwin’s life does make any reference to his sexuality, preferring to focus on the image of Baldwin as a civil rights leader. There is very little awareness in this case. I, as a storyteller, try to be very aware and check my own privileges as I construct stories because they are representations of not only the narrative but also my own politics.

Audience

My main audience for this story would be teenagers to adults in an academic setting like a school or public library. This could be included in programming around Black queer writers, Black experiences abroad, or Baldwin’s influence on the current civil rights movement. I see the possibility of telling this as a digital story so as to include clips of Baldwin speaking about France and photographs of the couple together. Baldwin’s voice has a strength that is palpable, only strengthening the audience’s connection to the story.

Adaptation Ideas

Like mentioned above, a digital story format may be helpful to get the idea of Baldwin’s travels across in a more physical/tangible way. The tone would be formal, paying close attention to historical accuracy. My own spin on the story would come mostly in the focus on Baldwin’s mental health after the failure of his romantic relationship with Lucien. I think it is important to grasp how artists deal with life experience in their writing, how the work tends to reflect the life. I also think that pointing out how Baldwin never labeled himself as any particular sexuality left him open to find love in many different types of people (men, women, black, white, etc.). Sexuality and love is not stagnant. Baldwin means a lot to me because he saw that the best way to tell stories is sometimes by stepping back and looking at as much of the image as you possibly can fathom.