Odd I just had a thought. An animated film. A fictitious afternoon in the life of James Baldwin. Perhaps his meeting Walt Whitman outside of the 42nd street Library. The story goes from there. They might meet John Donne in Chinatown.
Our heroes decide to have a light lunch of dumplings, and green tea. It's a crisp mid-fall afternoon in October 1962. The unlikely meeting hardly surprises them. They being mystics all assume such is to be expected from time to time,...so to speak.
"This electricity how you so depend on it" said John investigating his dumplings. "I saw it's beginnings" said Walt.
"I hardly notice it" grumbled James.
"I should have got a Coke, and a pack of Chesterfields"
There was a sudden rumble the floor shook. They looked up.
The sky was on fire.
"This is where I came in"
said Dunne not at all surprised.
1 comment:
I recently read an article by a woman for whom Baldwin is an icon. She read in something by him that white Americans like her (and me) are the most dangerous people in the world, because raised to believe that our "dreams" must be fulfilled - viz, impelled by an unexamined sense of entitlement to wonderful things that other people by implication are not entitled to. She also mentioned that he liked to hang out in Istanbul, where people don't have that attitude.
I also read in a recent piece from Counterpunch that Baldwin whupped the execrable William F. Buckley in a public debate on race matters in 1965. It's a fine and well-deserved hatchet job on Buckley:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/15/the-dark-side-of-william-f-buckley-jr/
(I remember that when told of the latter's death, Gore Vidal said "Well, he isn't going to like hell.")
Finally, I once heard Baldwin on radio back in the 80s. I forget the topic, but he was impressive. Definitely a good foil for John Donne and uncle Walt.
Z
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