Sunday, December 16, 2012

Baldwin's Role in Gay Black Literature



Bergman, David. "The Agony of Gay Black Literature." Gaiety Transfigured: Gay Self-
     Representation in American Literature
. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991. 163-
     187. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence
     J. Trudeau. Vol. 218. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Dec. 2012.

Bergman discusses the problems James Baldwin, and other gay, Black authors, face in the literary world. Mentions claims that a Black author cannot be gay, and vice versa, because of the separation of their inequality. Specifically discusses Eldridge Cleaver’s opinions of his ‘forcing homosexuality’ which Bergman refutes. Continues on and discusses Baldwin’s personal views on homosexuality, and the problems he faces with religion, specifically Pentecostalism. Main point: discusses the role of homosexuality in Africa, seen through Baldwin, how can one be Black and gay.


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