The Fire Next Time (1963)

"...a vast amount of the energy that goes into what we call the Negro porblem is produced by the white man's profound desire not to be judged by those who are not white, not to be seen as he is, and at the same time a vast amount of the white anguish is rooted in the white man's equally profound need to be seen as he is, to be released from the tyranny of his mirror."

As profound today as when it was first published. ( )

Excellent, wish it was longer. This is the second Baldwin book I have read (Notes on a Native Sun was the other) and now I want to check out some of his novels. ( )

Iconic for a good reason. As he described the ways in which blacks are thought to be lesser people and held in situations where they have no chance to exit to success, I couldn't help thinking of the parallels to the treatment of women. As with blacks, the Bible (or equivalent) is used to justify a whole range of dimishments and restrictions. Very interesting. Will be worth rereading. Got it from the library and then bought for my Kindle. ( )

After reading my first Baldwin literature, which was superbly insightful, precise, and powerful, I was expecting much, much more from this work. I struggle with why that is so. Perhaps, as this is non-fiction, the material is just more dated and what was new thought back then is now much more obvious now. Moreover, often I had the feeling that the author had so much to say and so much emotion behind it that his statements spilled out as so much regurgitation, thoughts revealed in semi-digested states and all mixed together, more difficult to distinguish and appreciate than they would have been separately. I have also considered whether or not I was, as a non-black, in any way the intended target of his exposition. I came away with the impression that sometimes he was talking just to other blacks and sometimes to everyone else as an introduction to black Americans. There is some very interesting insight into the black religious experience and more especially into the difference between American black Christianity and black Islam doctrine. This was made all the more interesting to me since I was concurrently reading another book about the distinctions between black African tribal mores and black African Christianity. As highly observant as the author's comments are about these religiously based subjects, I am not at all convinced he had been able to remove himself from his own religious experience to be as objective as he intended. This would not be my first recommendation to the author's work, but that is not to say it is not worth reading. ( )

I bit dated in parts, but very relevant still today. (And sadly the dated parts aren't because it's gotten sooo much better. ( )