Research Catalog
James Baldwin's "Five Years" poetry manuscript
- Title
- James Baldwin's "Five Years" poetry manuscript, 1942-1948.
- Author
- Baldwin, James, 1924-1987.
- Supplementary Content
- Finding aid
Items in the Library & Off-site
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1 Item
| Status | Container | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person. | folder 1 | Mixed material | Use in library | Sc MG 934 folder 1 | Schomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives |
Details
- Description
- 1 folder.
- Summary
- "Five Years" is an 18-page typescript of sixteen unpublished poems (the last two being carbons) written by Baldwin between 1942 and 1948 prior to the publication of his first novel, "Go Tell It on the Mountain." The poems, which are dated, explore themes of love, fear and mortality, lifelong preoccupations of the author best known for his insightful essays and probing fiction.
- The typescript contains a small number of minor corrections, which might be Baldwin's. The title leaf bears the following inscription in the author's hand: "These are my only copies - bit by bit I'd like you to send me copies - and I'll send the things I have back to you -- Jimmy."
- Subjects
- American literature > African American authors
- African American authors > 20th century > Archives
- Typescript
- Poems
- Black author
- African Americans > Poetry
- American literature > African American poets
- American poetry > African American authors
- Personal papers
- Baldwin, James, 1924-1987 > Archives
- Drafts (documents)
- Genre/Form
- American literature – African American authors.
- American literature – African American poets.
- American poetry – African American authors.
- Poems.
- Typescript.
- Personal papers.
- Drafts (documents)
- Access (note)
- Researchers are restricted to a facsimile of the manuscript.
- Source (note)
- Locus Solus Rare Books
- Biography (note)
- James Baldwin (1924-1987) was the premiere African-American writer and public intellectual of the post-War period. He authored six novels, three plays, dozens of short stories, a book-length work of non-fiction, a children's book, scores of essays and reviews, and a book of poems. Baldwin won renown in the U.S. and internationally for his writing, his leadership in the civil rights movement, and for championing human rights around the world. His essays and reviews, especially, are remarkable not just for their mastery of literary technique - their marriage of music and sharp analysis - but for the breadth of the African American experience which they interpret, dramatize, honor, and lament. These prose masterpieces are unique in the history of American literature for the depth, subtlety, and daring with which they explore the psycho-political causes and consequences of racism and other ideologies of political exploitation. His best known works include "Go Tell It on the Mountain"(1953), "Notes of a Native Son"(1955), "Giovanni's Room"(1956), "The Fire Next Time"(1963) and "If Beale Street Could Talk"(1974).
- Contents
- "Epitaph" -- "On the Subway" -- "Eighth Street" -- "Song (1)" -- "Song (2)" -- "Wastrel Song" -- "Sonnet" -- "Song" -- "Duel in the Tavern" -- "Portrait" -- "For Chris" -- "Devotional" (over five of them are untitled).
- Call Number
- Sc MG 934
- OCLC
- 971257985
- Author
- Baldwin, James, 1924-1987.
- Title
- James Baldwin's "Five Years" poetry manuscript, 1942-1948.
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- sheetvolume
- Access
- Researchers are restricted to a facsimile of the manuscript.
- Biography
- James Baldwin (1924-1987) was the premiere African-American writer and public intellectual of the post-War period. He authored six novels, three plays, dozens of short stories, a book-length work of non-fiction, a children's book, scores of essays and reviews, and a book of poems. Baldwin won renown in the U.S. and internationally for his writing, his leadership in the civil rights movement, and for championing human rights around the world. His essays and reviews, especially, are remarkable not just for their mastery of literary technique - their marriage of music and sharp analysis - but for the breadth of the African American experience which they interpret, dramatize, honor, and lament. These prose masterpieces are unique in the history of American literature for the depth, subtlety, and daring with which they explore the psycho-political causes and consequences of racism and other ideologies of political exploitation. His best known works include "Go Tell It on the Mountain"(1953), "Notes of a Native Son"(1955), "Giovanni's Room"(1956), "The Fire Next Time"(1963) and "If Beale Street Could Talk"(1974).
- Connect to:
- Local Subject
- Black author.
- Research Call Number
- Sc MG 934