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Available From UC Press
Talking at the Gates
A Life of James Baldwin
James Baldwin was one of America's finest and most influential writers. By the time he died in 1987, his books, such as The Fire Next Time, Go Tell It on the Mountain, and Giovanni's Room, had become modern classics.
James Campbell knew Baldwin for ten years before Baldwin's death. For this book, he interviewed many of Baldwin's friends, and examined several hundred pages of correspondence. He quotes from the vast and disturbing file that the FBI compiled on Baldwin, and he discusses Baldwin's sometimes turbulent relationships with Norman Mailer, Richard Wright, and Marlon Brando, as well as his friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. Elegantly written, candid, and original, Talking at the Gates is a comprehensive account of the life and work of a writer who believed that "the unexamined life is not worth living."
James Campbell knew Baldwin for ten years before Baldwin's death. For this book, he interviewed many of Baldwin's friends, and examined several hundred pages of correspondence. He quotes from the vast and disturbing file that the FBI compiled on Baldwin, and he discusses Baldwin's sometimes turbulent relationships with Norman Mailer, Richard Wright, and Marlon Brando, as well as his friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. Elegantly written, candid, and original, Talking at the Gates is a comprehensive account of the life and work of a writer who believed that "the unexamined life is not worth living."
James Campbell is the author of This Is the Beat Generation: New York, San Francisco, Paris, Exiled in Paris: Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Samuel Beckett and Others on the Left Bank, and Invisible Country: A Journey through Scotland. He works for the Times Literary Supplement.
"Campbell's biography is scrupulously researched and also uncovers new material about Baldwin's life and offers a well-argued case for a re-reading of Baldwin's oeuvre. Campbell knew Baldwin well, but his affection for the man has not dulled his critical pen. When I first met Baldwin he referred me to Campbell as the man to talk to if I wished to know more about his life and work."—Caryl Phillips, author of The Atlantic Sound